Israel plans
for Iran go
back years
JERUSALEM: For more than a decade, Israel has
systematically built up its military speciﬁcally for a
possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. It has
sent its air force on long-distance training missions,
procured American-made “bunker-busting” bombs
and bolstered its missile defenses. Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s threats to strike Iran, voiced
last week during a high-proﬁle visit to the White
House, were not empty bluster. Although a unilateral Israeli attack would probably not destroy Iran’s
nuclear program, it appears capable, at least for
now, of inﬂicting a serious blow.
“If Israel attacks, the intention is more to send a
message of determination, a political message
instead of a tactical move,” said Yiftah Shapir, a former Israeli air force oﬃcer who is now a military
analyst at the INSS think tank in Tel Aviv. Israel,
along with the United States and other Western
countries, believes Iran has taken key steps toward
developing nuclear weapons. The U.N.’s nuclear
watchdog agency has cited this concern in reports,
but notes its inspectors have found no direct evidence that Iran is moving toward an atomic
weapon.
Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: (From left) Kuwaiti Oil Minister Hani Hussein, his Bahraini counterpart Abdul Hussein Mirza and his
Saudi counterpart Ali Al-Nuaimi chat during a reception on the sidelines of the world’s largest energy forum
which opened yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Max 31º
Min 14º
High Tide
03:25 & 15:06
Low Tide
08:45 & 21:44

KUWAIT: The world’s largest energy forum began meetings yesterday over oil price ﬂuctuations and safeguarding supplies amid heightened tensions over Iran’s
nuclear program and a softening in global growth. Oil
ministers and delegates from the 88-member
International Energy Forum (IEF) are holding their biennial three-day gathering in Kuwait to discuss the role of
the forum in tackling market volatility. Ministers will discuss “energy market ﬂuctuations and the role of the
International Energy Forum and its member states in
dealing with them”, according to a statement by the
organisers. They will also discuss behind closed doors
“the long-term demand for energy, safeguarding supplies and drawing of appropriate policies for ensuring
energy supplies,” it said.
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Hani Hussein said the meeting is
being held under “extraordinary circumstances,” citing
Iran’s recent threats to block the Strait of Hormuz through which most of Gulf oil shipments are exported,
and the eurozone crisis, as causes of concerns. He
added Kuwait aims to boost its crude production capacity to 4 million barrels a day by 2020, up from 3 million
barrels now. “ The threats regarding the Strait of
Hormuz, as well as the eurozone crisis, speculators and
price increases are making the situation more complex,”
he said in a television interview on Sunday, according to
KUNA state news agency. Iranian oﬃcials had in January
warned they could close the strait if increased Western
sanctions over Tehran’s controversial nuclear program
halt Iranian oil exports, triggering further US security
measures in the strategic transit route.
But a top Kuwaiti oﬃcial said yesterday that the state
did not receive any requests from its customers to
Continued on Page 13

Afghan outrage
grows over GI’s
brutal rampage

Israeli soldiers watch as a missile is launched from
the Iron Dome defence system in the southern
Israeli city of Beer Sheva yesterday. (Inset) A
wounded Palestinian youth cries as he lies in a
hospital in Gaza City after an Israeli air strike yesterday. — AFP

Israel-Gaza bloodshed
rages into fourth day
GAZA: Israeli war planes struck at the
Gaza Strip and Palestinians ﬁred more
rockets against southern Israel yesterday
in a fourth day of hostilities in which 23
Palestinians have been killed. Egyptian
eﬀorts to broker a ceaseﬁre appeared to
be stuck over a demand by the Islamic
Jihad militant group that Israel ﬁrst
promise not to target militant leaders for
future attack. The violence also drew
condemnation from US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton and United Nations
Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon, who
called for restraint. The Arab League also
urged the United Nations to intervene
and stop the conﬂict.
Eighteen of the Palestinians killed
since ﬁghting ﬂared in the Hamas-controlled enclave last Friday were militants
and ﬁve civilians, according to medical
oﬃcials. At least 74 Palestinians, mostly

Amir fetes
army officers
at graduation
ceremony

2

civilians, and eight people in Israel have
been wounded. The Israeli air strikes yesterday killed two Palestinian militants
and an elderly man and his daughter, the
oﬃcials said. A 15-year-old Palestinian
youth died in an explosion that
Palestinians blamed on an Israeli missile.
The Israeli military denied it had carried
out a strike. Thirty-ﬁve rockets, at least 20
of them intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome
anti-missile system, were ﬁred at Israel,
wounding three people, Israeli police
said.
Gaza’s Hamas leadership, whose own
cadres have kept out of the ﬁghting, said
on Sunday neighbouring Egypt was
working to stop the violence and consulting with other militants. A Palestinian
oﬃcial close to the mediation told
Reuters Israel had agreed to a midnight
Continued on Page 13

India’s troubled
Kingfisher
scraps
more flights

22

KABUL: Outrage over a murderous rampage by an
American soldier who killed 16 villagers gripped
Afghanistan yesterday as parliament called for a public trial and Taleban insurgents vowed revenge. The
United States embassy issued fresh warnings to its
citizens of possible violent protests, while the latest
setback in America’s longest war threatened negotiations with the Afghan government on its exit strategy. The American walked oﬀ his base in southern
Kandahar province and broke into three village
homes before dawn Sunday, killing 16 people including nine children and three women - an event
described by Afghan President Hamid Karzai as
“unforgivable”.
“We seriously demand and expect that the government of the United States punish the culprits and
try them in a public trial before the people of
Afghanistan,” parliament said in statement before
closing for the day in protest. Condemning the
killings as “brutal and inhuman”, parliament declared
that “people are running out of patience over the
ignorance of foreign forces”.
It is the latest in a series of actions by troops that
has provoked outrage in Afghanistan, and comes just
weeks after the burning of Qurans at a US base
sparked riots that killed 40 people and plunged ties
to an all-time low. The Taleban, leading a 10-year
insurgency against US-led foreign troops and the
government in Kabul, threatened to take revenge
against “sick-minded American savages” for those
who died. Braced for the worst, the US embassy
urged its citizens in Afghanistan to take extra precautions, warning against “a risk of anti-American feelings and protests in coming days especially in eastern
and southern provinces”.
But there were no reports of protests by evening
yesterday, and community leaders in Kandahar
appeared to be trying to prevent any outbreak of violence. “The people have told us ‘we won’t resort to
violence, we won’t demonstrate, but we want our
government to deliver justice and bring the person
responsible to justice’,” a prominent tribal elder and
member of Kandahar Provincial Council told AFP. “We
have promised them, the government has promised
them that they will pursue this at high levels,” said
Continued on Page 13

Rare imperial
bowl creates
a stir
in China

40

Syrian rebels carry the dead body of a
comrade to a morgue after heavy fighting
with Syrian government forces in Idlib,
north Syria on Sunday. (Inset) Bodies of
children and adults are laid out yesterday
on the floor at a makeshift morgue in Bab
Al-Sebaa, a neighborhood in the restive
city of Homs. — AP/AFP

Civilians massacred in
Homs, hundreds flee
Many victims raped, throats slit
DAMASCUS: The bodies of more than 50
civilians - including 47 women and children - some with their throats slit, were
found in the restive Syrian city of Homs
after a “massacre” that sent families ﬂeeing the area, activists and the opposition
said yesterday. Syria’s information minister accused “terrorist gangs” of carrying
out the killings in order to incite international pressure on President Bashar AlAssad’s regime. At a meeting of top
diplomats of UN Security Council member states in New York, Western foreign
ministers demanded that Syrian allies
China and Russia stop blocking UN
action to halt the bloodshed.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

said Assad had cynically launched military assaults while meeting with Annan.
“How cynical that, even as Assad was
receiving former (U.N) Secretary-General
Koﬁ Annan, the Syrian Army was conducting a fresh assault on Idlib and continuing its aggression in Hama, Homs,
and Rastan,” she told the Security
Council. Britain’s William Hague said
most of the world believed the council
had failed in its responsibilities to the
Syrian people, while France’s Alain Juppe
appealed to China and Russia to heed
the conscience of the world. Russia’s
Sergei Lavrov retorted that change in the
Arab world “must not be achieved by
Continued on Page 13

Lakers rally
past Celtics
in another
thriller

20

2

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

LOCAL

New batch of army officers graduates

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah attending the graduation ceremony of the army officers yesterday.
KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir and Supreme Commander of the Armed
Forces, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, sponsored and attended
the graduation ceremony of the 16th class of college army-officers and 39th
class of army-officers at Ali Al-Sabah Military Academy here yesterday.
The Amir was received by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense,
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Army Chief of Staff, Sheikh
Khaled Jarrah Al-Sabah, Ministry of Defense Undersecretary, Jasser Al-Jasser,
and other army officials.
The graduation was also attended by His Highness the Crown Prince,
Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, National Assembly Speaker
Ahmed Al-Saadoun, Deputy Chief of Kuwait National Guard (KNG), Sheikh
Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad AlAhmad Al-Sabah, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak
Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs, Sheikh Ali
Jarrah Al-Sabah, senior officials of the state and family members of the
graduates.
Brig Sulaiman Al-Huwailah, Dean of the Academy, welcomed the guests
and thanked His Highness the Amir for his continuous support to the
Kuwaiti military. The graduation proceeded with His Highness the Amir
handing awards to officers who excelled in the 16th class. —KUNA

Al-Salem appointed as chief retail
banking officer at Warba Bank
KUWAIT: Warba Bank announced yesterday the appointment of Adnan
Salman Al-Salem as chief retail banking
officer, as per the approval of the Central
Bank of Kuwait. Al-Salem enjoys a significant record of experience with a unique
background in the banking field. AlSalem was one of the main organizers of
Warba Bank since its establishment and
contributed in placing the strategy for
the retail services while ensuring the
application highest international standards of excellence that coincide with
the Islamic Sharia principles. Al-Salem’s
appointment plays a key role in supporting the Warba team to witness targeted
growth and continuous development.
Given his major expertise in banking starting from the thorough implementation of the bank’s strategy, to providing
innovative Islamic products and services
that cater to the needs of clients - Al-

Adnan Al-Salem
Salem emphasizes the application of the
finest standards of customer services in
the local Islamic banking sector.
Warba Bank, an Islamic bank established by virtue of Amiri Decree, was
officially registered in the Central Bank
of Kuwait’s list of Islamic banks on the
5th of April, 2010.

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti workers and employees who
did not receive allowances have been demanding higher salaries, which the government
promised to consider. Miffed at its apparent negligence, employees began staging a strike yesterday that lasted for two hours. The Civil Service
Commission(CSC) has announced that it has
approved a 25 percent increase to the basic
salary. The National Union of Kuwait Workers
and Employees, representing 21 organizations
and unions rejected the proposal arguing that it
does not meet their expectations.
Yesterday, Ajmi Al-Mutlaqem, the vice president of the National Union of Kuwait Workers
and Employees held a meeting with the head of

the Civil Service Commission to express its opinion on the proposed increase. “We found that a
25 percent increase fails to satisfy those who did
not receive any allowances. We demand that the
value of allowances granted be doubled, in
which case the 25 percent would be somehow
acceptable. But for those who have not received
any allowances, this is a marginal increase,” he
told the Kuwait Times.
“These demands presented by the Union represent Kuwaiti employees who have not
received any material benefits. Those benefiting
from allowances receive much higher salaries.
We have not set a certain percentage, and the 25
percent proposed by the Civil Service
Commission should be not less than KD 50 along
with doubling allowances,” he added.

“The 25 percent increase is not in tune with
high cost of living. We did not intend to stage a
strike and we resorted to it after the government
failed to keep its promises. The employees do
not want to delay work in different institutions,
they have a right to receive fair salaries,” AlMutlaqem added.
Kuwaiti employees in all the public sectors
will down their tools, demanding a pay raise,
every Sunday for two hours. “We are waiting
now to see the result of the meeting and
whether it will be approved and also if our comments and recommendations will be considered.
The result of the meeting will decide all future
course of action. The strike will then gradually be
increased to four hours, and then a full day, if
demands are not fulfilled,” he concluded.

Kuwait Edu 2012
exhibition starts
KUWAIT: Education is the foundation of
our future, said Ministry of Education and
Higher Education’s Undersecretary
Khaled Al-Saad as he opened Kuwait
International Higher Education
Exhibition (Kuwait Edu 2012) yesterday.
Al-Saad inaugurated the event on
behalf of Minister of Education and
Higher Education, Dr Nayef Falah AlHajraf, saying that this annual fair is one
of the most important held in the country. Educational and academic institutions and bodies in Kuwait and abroad
are participating in the event, which lasts
until March 15.
Evaluating higher education pro-

grams aims at coping with the latest scientific developments in developed countries, Al-Saad said. Higher education
seeks scientific quality and evaluation of
universities’ programs with its various
majors and specialties, he added.
The scientific recognition granted
from the Ministry of Higher Education to
a number of universities after supervising their educational quality results in
highly educated graduate students, he
said.
Al-Saad invited everyone to attend
this fair, especially high school students
who can learn about the nature of academic studies.—KUNA

Kuwait football Association stops as KD 2 million runs out
KUWAIT: Kuwait Football Association (KFA)
may suspend national team activities and a
number of local competitions due to a lack
of funding. A KD2 million grant paid just
seven months ago by His Highness the
Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah,
will run out soon.
Sheikh Dr. Talal Al-Fahad, KFA President,
said on Sunday he bears “full responsibility”
for the failure of the national team to reach
the Asian qualifying round for the 2014
World Cup.

Sheikh Dr. Talal Al-Fahad announced a
final match, between Qadsiya and Kazma
today for H.H. the Amir Cup, at a press conference held at the Movenpick Hotel in the
Free Trade Zone.
“National teams and local competitions
are at risk of suspension if obstacles remain
in front of a new budget for KFA”, Al-Fahad
said. He was referring to the suspension of
the KFA budget, passed by Parliament and
approved by the Cabinet, due to controversy regarding the legality of the KFA board.

Al-Fahad said he plans to ask H.H. the Amir
to “support Kuwaiti athletes”, hoping at the
same time for “serious efforts to protect the
future of Kuwaiti football”.
Kuwait lost its chance to advance to the
World Cup after being beaten by South
Korea last month. Apart from their victory
in the Gulf Cup of Nations a couple of years
ago, the national team has failed in major
regional and international competitions.
“I hereby announce that I take full
responsibility for all national team failures

during my tenure as KFA President, and
even those that happened before that”, AlFahad said, calling for both “moral and
financial support” to improve Kuwait’s football sector.
In other news, a member of Qadsiya
Club’s under-18 team pressed attempted
murder charges against a fan. The fan
reportedly struck him on the head with a
hard object. The injury required 13 stitches.
The incident happened during a match
with Al-Sahel club on Sunday in an under-

18 local league competition. Altercations
broke out between the two teams.
Qadsiya’s Meshan Al-Marzouq fell to the
ground bleeding heavily after a fan, who
jumped over the railings, threw a hard
object at his face. Al-Marzouq was rushed
to Adan Hospital and admitted to the
intensive care unit.
The club is expected to file a complaint
against KFA for failing to provide security
personnel at Fahaheel Stadium, where the
match took place. —Al-Qabas

Energy forum gains
great importance
KUWAIT: Minister of Oil Hani Hussein yesterday said that
the 13th International Energy Forum, to be held in Kuwait
this week, gains great importance due to participation by
representatives of producing and consuming countries.
Minister Hussein said that Kuwait’s main priority is stabilization of global energy markets and establishing
understanding between producing and consuming parties, because “confrontation would harm everyone,” in the
long and short run.
He affirmed that Kuwait will display its opinions during this forum with all transparency, noting that there will
be a “frank and open” discussion between producers and
consumers without the presence of the press in order to
allow for more free space for discussions.
On current oil prices, Minister Hussein said that part of
the trend comes from speculations and speculators at
global energy stock markets, while the other part comes
from supply and demand.
Also, he noted some factors contributing to the
increase, such as distress in some surrounding countries,
fear of closure of Hormuz Strait and economic challenges
facing Europe. Furthermore, Minister Hussein said that
high prices would harm both consumers and producers
in general; therefore, efforts must be consolidated to prevent its increasing in the future in order to help stabilize
global economy.
Meanwhile, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther
Oettinger will deliver a speech and present the EU’s energy policy at the 13th International Energy Forum.
An EU energy spokesperson said in Brussels yesterday
that Oettinger will underline the EU attractiveness for
investments in the energy sector, and is a large and everbetter integrated market for international suppliers of
energy. He will also take the opportunity to stress the EU’s
commitment to global transparent oil markets.
On the sidelines of the forum, he will also have bilateral talks with with IEF Secretary General, Energy Ministers
of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE. Furthermore, he will
meet his counterparts from Algeria and Turkey, noted the
spokesperson.
Through the Forum and its associated events, IEF
Ministers, their officials, energy and industry executives,
and other experts will engage in a dialogue of increasing
importance to global energy security.
The IEF and the global energy dialogue are promoted
by a permanent Secretariat of international staff based in
the Diplomatic Quarter of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This year’s
IEF mainly concentrates on how to meet future energy
demand, energy markets and its mitigating volatility, how
to achieve environmental and social sustainability and
how to boost the Global Energy Dialogue. —KUNA

Strategic water
reserves tapped as
demand exceeds
production
KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) had to
rely on Kuwait’s strategic reserve of desalinated water
throughout February to meet public consumption. Demand
exceeded production rates during most days in the past
month. A senior MEW official expressed concern given the relatively moderate temperature in February, and that consumption rates usually rise during hot days of summer according to
statistics during recent years.
“The highest rate of consumption last month was recorded
on February 9, when 364.060 imperial gallons were consumed
compared to 316.752 produced the same day” said the source,
who spoke anonymously because he is not authorized to
release official statistics to the press. The strategic reserve of
desalinated water reached 2,188.753 imperial gallons by the
end of that day, the source added. The source revealed that
the MEW is currently studying ways to reduce consumption
levels in the upcoming months, which are expected to feature
higher demands on water as the temperature increases.
The level of water consumption in Kuwait reaches 500
liters per capita a day, according to official statistics released in
April of last year. The global daily water consumption average
ranges between 100 to 200 liters per capita.
Regarding electricity consumption, the source said the
highest consumption rate last month reached 5,250
megawatts, recorded on February 7. Electricity consumption
levels also increase gradually as the temperature rises in
Kuwait.—Al-Qabas

KUWAIT: In a highly controversial move, the
head office of the National Assembly approved
on Sunday a modification made to the petition
filed against the incident in which the
Parliament was stormed, setting free lawmakers complicit in the event that took place in
November last year. The complaint was filed by
the head office of the previous parliament,
accusing members of the opposition of leading
angry protestors to storm the Parliament’s
building, assaulting police officers on duty and
damaging state property. The incident took
place while an anti-government rally was being
held in response to public pressure demanding
the former Cabinet’s resignation.
On Sunday, Speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun,
Deputy Speaker Khalid Al-Sultan, Secretary
Abdullah Al-Barghash and Rapporteur Faisal AlYahya approved a modification to drop charges
related to storming the Parliament. This was
based on new testimonies which state that citizens and lawmakers entered the building after
guards voluntarily opened the doors. The new
clause also argues that property damage inside

the building was limited, proven by the fact
that sessions were held normally. In general,
the new report would address the case as
being politically motivated rather than a criminal act, according to sources. Head office member Marzouq Al-Ghanim repor tedly voted
against the new change, while Waleed AlTabtabaei did not take part, being one of
accused in the case.
In other news, Popular Action Bloc(PAB)
spokesman MP Musallam Al-Barrak continued
his campaign against Mustafa Al-Shamali,
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
saying that “the time limit he has given [to
eliminate alleged corruption in the Finance
Ministry] is shorter than he thinks.” Al-Barrak is
widely expected to co-present a grilling motion
against Al-Shamali in the near future, reported
Al-Qabas.
Today the debate of a grilling motion filed
by MP Saleh Ashour against Prime Minister HH
Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah will be held,
unless the Cabinet requests that it be delayed.
According to sources, the Cabinet may request

a postponement, and approve parliamentary
requests to form investigation committees to
probe the cash deposits case and foreign transfers scandals. This highlights topics addressed
in Ashour’s grilling.
Moving on to another subject, MP Faisal AlDuwaisan announced plans to submit a request
to discuss “the vicious attack made by the
Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Kuwaiti cleric
Tariq Al-Suwaidan and Qatari cleric Yousuf AlQardawi against the United Arab Emirates.” The
“show of solidarity to the UAE” request comes
on the wake of reports quoting Dubai Police
General Commander, Lieutenant General Dhahi
Al-Khalfan as saying that he plans to press slander charges against Al-Suwaidan. The Kuwaiti
cleric had condemned Al-Khalfan criticizing
leading Muslim Brotherhood activist AlQardawi. In the meantime, several lawmakers
including Abdurrahman Al-Anjari, Mubarak AlWalan and Badr Al-Daahoum criticized the government over Lebanese Energy Minister Gebran
Bassil’s visit to Kuwait because his ‘supportive
stance’ to the Syrian regime, reported Al-Rai.

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

LOCAL
kuwait digest

Local Spotlight

What about
individual liberty?

No one can be
fooled all the time

By Dr Bader Al-Daihani

I

n the first week of December, we spoke about
public and personal liberties issues as the major
challenges that Islamic groups face after their
sweeping parliamentary elections in Morocco,
Tunisia, Egypt and Libya for reasons mentioned in an
extract from the article below:
“...now, after the success of the Islamic powers and
groups particularly the Muslim Brotherhood and
Salafists in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Libya, the
major challenge that they will face is how they will
deal with issues of social democracy and particularly
public and personal liberties, which they faced as
political factions during the past four or five decades.
Democracy is not limited to general elections only.
As for issues related to economics and dealings with
development, unemployment, and raising the standard of living, I do not believe the Islamic factions
and groups have a different view from the capitalist
views in general despite some nomenclatures and
new forms that do not touch the core or content.”
Some extremist Islamic powers speak out loud
about being against public and personal liberties
issues. This threatens the process of building civil and
democratic societies that can replace previous tyrannical ones. We are certain that Arab people who suffered a lot in past decades and revolted against
oppression and violation of dignity will not allow
such a thing to happen regardless of the cost
involved.
All political and youth groups that participated in
the election campaign did not mention anything
about the Constitution, democracy or public freedoms. The results were anyway in favor of Islamist
groups. Some members seem to be ready to start in
Feb 26 statement. This was clear in the statements
made by several Islamic MPs including ‘Justice’ bloc
MP Bader Al-Dahoum who said that “the Justice bloc
submitted the ‘decency’ draft law which bans indecent clothing. So what really is meant by decency?
How can it be measured? Who decides it and based
on what standards? Will it differ according to people’s views, time, place and circumstances ?
Will Islamic groups and powers realize that the
democracy sought by vibrant people including ours
is not just about superficial procedures and ballot
boxes, rather it means, among other things, pluralism
and peaceful transfer of power, respecting public
and personal liberties and protecting the right to differ over everything- starting with the freedom of
opinion and expression all the way to the shape and
style of clothes and passing thru the way of thinking.
Will they, the Islamic groups, attempt to take advantage of the circumstances the relative democracy
provides in order to patronize society and blow away
the democratic values? The coming months will
answer this. — Aljarida

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

H
kuwait digest

Popcorn heroes!
By Nabil Al-Fadhl

W

e really do not know if Khaled Al-Sultan has
been misled or if he is voluntarily defending
the fake snobs who brag about breaking into
the National Assembly. One time we hear that AlSultan intends to withdraw his complaint, then we
hear that he wants to retract his testimony!
Well, we know for sure that an attorney will gather
new witnesses to help defend his client, but we have
never heard about Parliament office or the deputy
speaker’s role in providing such witnesses! We do
understand that members of the majority should
empathize and coordinate with each other. A crime is
taking place - hiding the truth that manipulates all
laws, norms and traditions with the sole aim of protecting and saving themselves, quite typical of such
‘popcorn heroes.’ However, we are closely watching
such attempts. What is baffling is about Al-Sultan’s
suspicious role, despite social and religious prestige!
The only Salafis involved in the incident are former
MPs. Is Al-Sultan trying to protect them? The incident
that shocked us all was audio-visually recorded, and
the fact that those ‘popcorn heroes’ kept bragging
with ‘their achievement.’ This has made citizens lose
trust in law and social security.
Furthermore, the sluggishness of legal proceedings
encouraged others to burn down electoral headquar-

ters during elections and break into satellite TV channels without fear of any punishment. This is until they
received a hard blow that brought some sense back to
their heads. The incident was carried out by some current MPs and groups of young people who were provoked by MPs. They have never admitted to provoking young people. However, this is no excuse for
young people to go on a rampage. They will still have
to face legal actions that might ruin many people’s
future.
The question here is:
Can we punish the youth
and let MPs walk freely? MPs will surely forget all
about their acts and take refuge in parliamentary
immunity, which is the responsibility of the parliamentary legislative committee headed by MP Waleed AlTabtabae. Ironically, he is one of the plotters!
Tabtabae will surely utilize conditioning the committee’s approval of any requests to lift parliamentary
immunity, volunteering with his friends to lift their own
immunity. Therefore, we would like to tell Tabtabae
and his friends that if the National Assembly refuses to
lift your immunity, the least you can do is to resign so
as to achieve justice. We can consider the words of
men who take full responsibility for what they do. If you
manage to cover up such a big crime, all our homes
may be subject to similar raids. — Al-Watan

as the Muslim Brotherhood benefited from
the Arab Spring uprising? I think they have.
The Muslim Brotherhood found the golden
opportunity to flourish and convince people that
they will escape the misery they have been suffering
for many years under dictatorship.
They seem to be waging considerable power, pronouncing the final word on many issues. Let us not
be fooled by appearances and assume that they
have been welcomed with open arms. In fact, I think
they are living the honeymoon period; it will not last
very long. I believe if they keep moving along this
slippery track without learning the big lesson, power will never last !
I have never been in favor of the using the term
Arab Spring because the daily blood bath we witness cannot be compared to the pleasantness of the
spring season. People in places like Tunisia, Egypt
and now Syria are paying a heavy price to put an end
to this conflict. No sane person wants to live under
threat. Wars mean possible death every moment.
Now think about Egypt. It managed to put an end
to dictatorship but I doubt if they want to replace
one tyrant with another. That is not what many
youths wanted. I’m sure they were hoping for
improved living conditions. The Muslim Brotherhood
managed to win the election, but we should not be
deceived by appearances right now. I doubt that
they will be able to control the country for years at a
stretch. Although many countries want more freedom and liberation from dictatorship, the outcomes
have not been glamorous. Therefore, no matter how
hard the Muslim Brotherhood tries to flex their muscles and dominate people, I doubt they will be able
to control for too long.
The Arabs have changed in the way they view the
world. An example here in Kuwait is that of many
who elected the Islamists to power. They are wondering if they took the wise decision because of their
proposal to impose a ‘hijab’ and a dress code on all
women. What happened to all their calls for development and change?
Time will tell if the Brotherhood has fooled some
people. But you can’t fool everyone all the time.

kuwait digest
kuwait digest

How many more
lives will be lost?
By Shereedah Al-Mousharjy

I

t might be hopeless to continue talking about
Kuwait’s traffic problem that causes suffering to
anyone behind a steering wheel. It is the psychological aspect that concerns people the most. We
become frightened at the mere thought of stepping
out of the house and driving.
Most people have high hopes in major traffic projects announced. Unfortunately, they are being constructed at snail’s pace. We read many official reports
about projects like new bridges and tunnels, in addi-

tion to a monorail system. We only get to watch
excavations on public streets for maintenance purposes which further obstruct traffic flow.
While major projects can help reduce traffic problems on main roads, they still fail to solve the problem of finding parking spaces at public facilities and
residential buildings for more than a million cars plying Kuwait’s streets. Radical solutions should be taken to eliminate vehicles that are over ten or fifteen
years old, as well as establishing public transportation means. Kuwait should also raise oil prices which
will veer people toward public transportation.
I believe it is safe to say that measures should be
taken against reckless drivers who are no longer
deterred by fines. If drivers are imprisoned for committing serious traffic violations, they might realize
the gravity of the crime they committed!
A senior official at the state’s traffic department
once told me that overflowing vehicles in Kuwait’s
streets reached extreme levels, nearing breaking
point. “Once it reaches its limit, serious psychological
and social problems will be created, in addition to
persistent traffic crises,” he added. I believe that we
already are suffering psychological and social problems as a result of the traffic problem.
If building a new bridge takes so much time starting from the tender phase to the beginning of construction, imagine how long it would take for infrastructure-related projects for Kuwait’s roads network
to become a reality? More importantly, how many
lives will be lost until that happens? — Al-Rai

Actions speak
louder than words
By Dr Waleed Al-Falah

“I

f you want one year of prosperity, grow
grains. If you want ten years of prosperity,
grow trees. If you want one hundred years of
prosperity, grow people” - Chinese proverb.
Three years ago, a friend asked me about the reason behind my over enthusiasm at the government’s
development plan, even before it was passed back
then. This was unusual at the time, with many people
believing that the plan was likely to remain unfulfilled akin to the fate of many other developmental
projects.
My answer was very clear: the plan was going to
expose its inherent efficiency. If successful, it would
turn out to be great for the country. In case of failure,
the plan’s flaws would be exposed - these can be
resolved with time. So it is basically a win-win situation for people, regardless of the result.
That would have been true, had the government
adopted strategic planning. We see little action to
prove that the government has taken concrete measures to execute developmental projects.
Strategic planning starts with identifying what
needs to be achieved, then a mechanism should be
outlined, according to which this project can best be
realized. After that, we investigate to see if we have
the required abilities to execute the project; especially finances and labor force. If yes, then the building
process gets underway within a certain timeframe.
After this project is finished, it is important to evaluate it to ensure whether or not it meets the required
criteria. If it does not, modifications should be performed to correct errors. These are simple steps that
each developmental project in a country goes

Strategic planning starts with
identifying what needs to be
achieved, then a mechanism
should be outlined, according
to which this project can best be
realized. After that, we investigate to see if we have the
required abilities to execute the
project; especially finances and
labor force. If yes, then the
building process gets underway
within a certain timeframe.
through. In Kuwait , however, we hear a lot of talk but
see little action. State officials make public statements
on a regular basis about plans, projects and achievements while we hardly see significant accomplishments. Developmental projects can be successful if
strategic planning is properly utilized. — Al-Qabas

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

local

Dismissed traffic policeman
resorts to crime in Qurain
Hunt on for Hawally child molester
KUWAIT: A former traffic policeman was recently arrested for
stealing pedestrians’ cell phones
and selling them to cover his
expenses. Police arrested the suspect after identifying him
through the license plate number
of his vehicle. The number was
provided by a man who reported
that a thief snatched his phone
while he was walking in Qurain
and then drove away. The suspect
was identified as a Kuwaiti
national who was dismissed from
Hawally Traffic Department last
year for repeated violations. The
suspect admitted carrying out
several similar crimes during his
unemployment period to cover
his expenses.

apprehend the suspect.

Child molester
Police are looking to apprehend a Hawally resident, accused
of sexually molesting a child living next-door in his apartment
building. Investigations went
under way after an Arab man
reported to officers at the area
police station that the suspect
lured his 10-year-old son to his
apartment at least five times and
harassed him sexually. A case
was filed for investigations
before an order was made to

Suicides
A housewife was found hanging inside a Khaitan apartment
recently in an apparent suicide
case. Police and crime scene
investigators headed to the location, where an Asian man reported finding his wife’s body hanging from a rope tied to the ceiling.
The body was taken to the forensic department. Investigations are
underway to discover the
motives behind the Asian
woman’s suicide.

Sexual assault
Salmiya police arrested two
Kuwaiti young men accused of
sexually assaulting a woman
inside an apartment in the area
recently. The victim, a GCC
national, told police that the two
suspects forced her to stop while
driving in the area. Then they
took her to an apartment where
she was assaulted. Following
their arrest, the suspects said the
woman had agreed to give sexual
services in exchange for money
before accompanying them to
the apartment. They remain in
custody pending the ongoing
investigation.

KES plans information
technology seminar
KUWAIT: Refat Al-Rashidi, Member of the board of directors and
Kuwait Economic Society (KES) educational committee
Chairperson, said the society shall hold an informative seminar this
week. “The ideal use for Information Technology” is organized in
cooperation with the Central Bureau for Information Technology
and will be held at 6 pm on Wednesday 14th March at KES headquarters in northern Shuwaikh area.
The seminar focuses on qualifying the ideal use for information
technology in Kuwait in general and benefitting from government
electronic services in particular. The seminar deals with the relationship information technology has with art, health and social
culture.
A number of lecturers from Kuwait University and the Ministry
of Health who are specialized in those fields will participate.
Lecturers include Dr. Mohammad Al-Mulla, Dr. Salah Al-Najem and
Dr. Abeer Al-Bahoo.

A domestic worker was found
dead inside a house in Qurain.
Police launched a suicide investigation into the case. The homeowners called police after finding
the body of the Asian woman
hanging from the ceiling of her
room via a clothesline tied as a
noose.
Three dead in accidents
A male driver was killed in a
recent traffic accident on
Fahaheel Highway. Paramedics
rushed to the scene with police
as soon as the accident was
reported. They pronounced a
Kuwaiti man dead from a fatal
head trauma, whereas the driver
of another car involved in the
crash was unharmed. An investigation was opened into the accident. A 40-year-old Pakistani man
was pronounced dead at the site
of a recent car crash on King
Fahad Highway. An investigation
is ongoing into the accident.
A 33-year-old Indian citizen
was killed on the Seventh Ring
Road, where he was ran over by a
truck. The victim’s body was taken
to the coroner by criminal investigators after paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. A
case was filed for investigations.

Residency violators
Sixty one Asian nationals
reported missing or found in violation of residency regulations
were arrested during a recent
crackdown carried out by security
forces in Fahaheel, Abu Halaifa
and Mahboulah. The mission also
included a traffic campaign during which 53 tickets were issued.
The detainees were referred to
the proper authorities to be held
pending deportation procedures.
Teenagers held
Hawally detectives are currently investigating a case involving
three teenagers who violently
kicked a woman out of their car in
Salmiya. Patrol officers pursued a
car, which they spotted droving
away after briefly stopping to
drop a girl off. Police were eventually forced the car to stop in
Shuwaikh, before arresting three
underage Kuwaiti youngsters
who were inside the car. The
three youths refused to cooperate during investigations. Police
struggled to charge the trio as
the girl involved in the case never
pressed charges. The suspects
remain in custody pending investigations. —Al-Rai, Al-Watan, AlQabas

Sheikh Salem Al-Ali
Informatics Prize announced
KUWAIT:
The
Steering
Committee of Sheikh Salem Al-Ali
Al-Sabah Informatics Prize
announced yesterday the 20112012 Kuwaiti and Arab winners in
the 11th session.
Saleh Al-Asoussi, committee
member, expressed gratitude to
His Highness the Amir Sheikh
Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah for sponsoring the ceremony to honor the winners, due
in the coming few days.
Winners are Fahad Barghash
Al-Jafnawi for the best informatic
project (My net Koran), Ras Al-

Khaimah Chamber of Commerce
and Industry for the best development project, Egypt stock market for the top commercial enterprise, the Saudi Ministry of Higher
Education for the best service
enterprise, the Kingdom’s public
authority for technical training for
the top teaching program.
Yousef Al-Hajeri is the winner
of the best health enterprise. The
Arab Center for Electronic
Research for the top cultural
enterprise and Khawarezmi
Company for computers for the
best scientific project. — KUNA

KUWAIT: In collaboration with the British Firefighting College and with the
attendance of Kuwait Fire Services Department’s Deputy Director Brig Yousif AlAnsari, KFSD held a special training course for its 20 engineers and officers. The
course will be for three weeks to be followed by a fourth week abroad.
— Photo by Hanan Al-Saadoun

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

local

Kuwait Times photography contest
By Ben Garcia
KUWAIT: S.A. Labba, an entrepreneur and social worker from
India, entered at least three photographs into the 2011 Kuwait
Times photography contest. The
photography contest was introduced to mark Kuwaitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 50th
National and 20th Liberation
Days. This year the same contest
is open to all photographers,
amateurs and professionals alike.
Labba considers himself an amateur photo hobbyist. In fact his
photographs were chosen
among the 100 special images
which were equally rated â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;bestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
and deserving special recognition. As a token of appreciation,
the 100 selected photographs
were put on display in the Kuwait
Times lobby. The photographers
were invited for a special dinner
treat in a five star hotel.
Labba was not just amused,
but he gratefully appreciated the
Kuwait Times gesture of goodwill.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even though my photos did
not reach my expectations, the
token of gratitude by the Kuwait
Times to invite us to a special dinner was quite a wonderful gift.
My efforts were worth it,â&#x20AC;? he said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Many of us will try again this
year and it could be our moment
to take home the prize,â&#x20AC;? he
added. Labbaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s photographs submitted last year were mostly
about the national celebration
last year. He entered three snaps
which he mixed with the images
of old and new Kuwait, plus the
images he captured during the
celebration.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Last year was an amazing year
for photographers in Kuwait; a
celebration filled with beauty and
pride. Colors were flying all over
Kuwait and you felt the sense of
national pride.
The mood was festive and you
saw photographers feasting in
every corner capturing every
moment: night shot, the sky, the
beautiful colors. There is something in the night that gives real
magic and entertainment to oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
eyes,â&#x20AC;? he reminisced.
Labba is fond of taking photos
at any moment. He wants it natu-

ral. He does it when necessary.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Photographs amaze me a lot. I
am basically addicted to taking
photos,â&#x20AC;? he enthused. Labba
started taking photos back in
1982 when he got his first Nikkon
semi-professional camera.
From then on, he never went
out without it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whatever events
come my way, I will capture them.

photos undeniably admirable so I
tried entering them in some photo contests. I got some positive
feedback, just like the photos I
entered into the Kuwait Times
competition,â&#x20AC;? he added.
Now, Labbaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hobby is photography. Whenever he gets time, he
drives to any location in Kuwait
and takes some photographs. He

KUWAIT: S.A. Labba with one of his photos.
I started collecting photos from
1982. Photos that give satisfaction and pleasure to my eyes. My
first camera had to be loaded
with film. If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have it,
youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never have a photo. You
have to visit a photo developing
shop to see your photos.
Then eventually, I got a professional Nikkon. I found some of my

likes natural views, natural landscapes, a festival mood.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I want something normal,
something natural and something that cannot be copied by
anybody. I want the natural mood
to appear in my photos,â&#x20AC;? he said.
This year, Labba is preparing 10
photographs of the recent celebrations and photographs of old

Kuwait. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Most are in a celebratory
mood, for example I captured a
moment when a flag fell down
and was taken by a child who
kissed it. The emotional feeling
attached to the flag was there,
and I captured that moment. It
was a once in a life time photo
and I hope I will get the approval
of the judges,â&#x20AC;? he anticipated.
Labba is also pleased with the
way Kuwait Times handles photography contests. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kuwait Times
is never biased, just as they cover
local and international events.
They contract respected judges
from all over the world, people
who have knowledge about photography, and people who are
known and revered. I am particularly happy because they gave a
chance and priority to amateur
photographers like me.â&#x20AC;?
Apart from being a social
worker, 52-year-old Labba owns a
general trading and contracting
company in Kuwait. He is married
with two grown up children. He
owns an Arabic sweets and bakery business.
His wife works for the Ministry
of Health as a senior nurse. He is
the current Chairman of the IndoArab Cultural Association, promoting Indian tourism and cultural activities of both countries.
For him, photographs are important documents and files of
moments worth keeping.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;They will be part of history
and memories of the past, a collection of moments that cannot
be copied or rewound. No one
can alter or change them, and no
one can ever capture the same
photo the way I captured it. If you
capture the moment, it will be
yours and part of your treasure
forever,â&#x20AC;? he opined.
Kuwait Times continues to
receive photo entries with the
theme inspired by Kuwait
National and Liberation Days. The
submission deadline is March 30,
2012. Kuwait Times photography
contest is sponsored by Canon
(Kuwait) Middle East, Al-Sayer
Group, Swiss-belHotel Plaza,
Caesars Travel Company, and
Response Media (Events &
Exhibition).

Boubyan Group
participates in P2BK

Bader Dashti

KUWAIT: The Boubyan Group
Company participated in the
fifth annual â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Proud to be
Kuwaitiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; exhibition, concluded
recently at Kuwait International
Fairgrounds in Mishref.
General Manager Bader
Dashti said the group participated through various compa-

nies it operates, including the
Soccer Sports Center for
sportswear and equipment,
Ahmadi Travel Agency, and
Namey Art - a project launched
by young Kuwaiti artists who
scribe names in artistic ways
and in multiple languages.
The groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s participation,

for the second year in a row,
also included the Ticketâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;all
project, which is a website
assisting people to buy tickets
to watch European football
events as well as travel tickets
and accommodation at
reduced
prices,
Dashti
explained.

Kuwaitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quake aid to Japan deeply appreciated
TOKYO: Kuwaitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gift of five million barrels of crude
oil to help Japan recover from last Marchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s devastating earthquake and tsunami is highly appreciated
by the Japanese people, especially by those in the
disaster-stricken areas, Japanese Red Cross Society
President Tadateru Konoe said.
The Kuwaiti donation was the largest contribution to Japan by any country in this critical period.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I would like to extend sincere thanks to the Kuwaiti
leadership and the people for their support and
generosity,â&#x20AC;? Konoe said in an interview yesterday.
His comment came as he welcomed the state
visit to Japan by His Highness the Amir Sheikh
Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah starting from

off soon after approval from the prefectural assemblies,â&#x20AC;? he said, adding that the three local governments, which severely suffer from weak finances
following the March catastrophe, show gratitude to
the Kuwaiti government for allowing them to flexibly utilize the relief money for the reconstruction
projects.
According to the Japanese Red Cross Society,
Fukushima Prefecture, home to the crippled
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, plans to
spend JPY 81 billion ($982 million) in the current fiscal year for 14 projects, including support to small
and medium-sized companies affected by the
nuclear accident, restoration of cultural properties

TOKYO: Japanese Red Cross Society officials receiving the Kuwaiti donation.
March 20. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The donated oil was already delivered to
four Japanese refiners late last year. In order to
implement visible assistance, we established a relief
fund with money to the value of the free oil worth
some $550 million,â&#x20AC;? said Konoe, who doubles as
President of International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The aid covers eight areas, such as infrastructure recovery and support for medical care, education, employment and agriculture, in the three
hardest-hit prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and
Fukushima,â&#x20AC;? said Konoe.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The projects in Fukushima have begun, and the
planned projects in Miyagi and Iwate will also kick

and rebuilding homes of disaster victims.
Kuwaitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s generous gift was sent upon directives
of HH the Amir following a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that left more than
19,000 people dead or missing in the northeastern
region.
Kuwait has responded promptly and sincerely
to Japanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crisis soon after the disasters, with H.H.
the Amir and a number of dignitaries dispatching
letters and messages of sympathy. 5 million barrels
of oil surpasses Japanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daily consumption of 4.4
million barrels and is equal to two days of Kuwaitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
production.
In addition, Kuwaiti Ambassador to Japan

Abdulrahman Al-Otaibi and his embassy staff held
a successful charity bazaar last May and donated
JPY 500, 000 ($6,100), a part of the proceeds, to the
Japanese Red Cross Society for the victims.
The ambassador also visited northeastern city of
Kesennuma last April to encourage survivors. We
will remember kindness and support extended by
the Kuwaiti government and people.
While in Kesennuma, where it took six hours for
him to reach from Tokyo, Al-Otaibi offered survivors
foods, living necessities, school supplies and 240
soccer balls with two countriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; national flags painted. Meanwhile, Japanese Reconstruction Minister
Tatsuo Hirano said he welcomes the upcoming visit
by HH the Amir and extended heartfelt thanks to
the Amir and the Kuwaiti people for unstinting support and assistance following the last Marchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s massive earthquake and tsunami.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;From my heart, I welcome his visit, which will
give new impetus to friendly relationship between
the two countries,â&#x20AC;? Hirano, head of Reconstruction
Agency promoting rehabilitation of the northeastern region ravaged by the March 11 catastrophe,
said.
HH the Amir will make a four-day state visit to
Japan from March 20 to meet Emperor Akihito and
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kuwait has provided us with the 5 million barrels of crude oil, of
which we make good use through the Japanese
Red Cross Society,â&#x20AC;? said Hirano, who was born in
one of the worst-afflicted areas.
â&#x20AC;&#x153; Kuwaiti Ambassador Abdulrahman Al-Otaibi
visited northeastern city of Kesennuma last April to
encourage survivors. We will remember kindness
and support extended by the Kuwaiti government
and people,â&#x20AC;? Hirano said, vowing to further boost
friendly Japan-Kuwait relations.
While in Kesennuma, where it took six hours for
him to reach from Tokyo, Al-Otaibi offered survivors
foods, living necessities, school supplies and 240
soccer balls with two countriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; national flags painted. The Kuwaiti Embassy also held a charity bazaar
in May to raise funds for the disaster-affected areas,
which saw a great success. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rebuilding the disasterhit areas is Noda administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top priority,â&#x20AC;?
Hirano stressed, pledging to speed up reconstruction efforts.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;KUNA

Kuwait raises agriculture rent
prices as farmers cry foul
DUBAI: Kuwait could soon see meat
prices rise as higher rent fees charged
on agricultural properties was recently
passed by legislators in the country.
Government officials have attempted
to allay fears that the new law will not
have an impact on meat and agricultural prices, but farmers in the country
told Bikyamasr.com that â&#x20AC;&#x153;this is not
true.â&#x20AC;?
Mohamed Jawan said that â&#x20AC;&#x153;how can
the two not be related. We are charged
more for our properties, how are we
going to make the same profit without
raising the prices. It is bad for the people.â&#x20AC;?
But Shakir Awadh, Public Relations
Officer of the Public Authority for
Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources
(PAAAFR) said this increase â&#x20AC;&#x153;is not
linked to the price of produce.â&#x20AC;?
The price of these plots have not
been raised for more than 20 years.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The lease amount of agriculture
plots are nominal amounts charged
per meter annually. Pens and farms are
spacious, and the increase in prices
will boost state revenue. It is not fair to
retain the same rent for more than 20
years,â&#x20AC;? Awadh said.
He argued in the interview with the
local newspaper that many other factors come into play and could cause
the increase.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We found out that many of the
agricultural plots are not used for the
purpose for which it has been leased

out. The government has rented out
these properties at nominal prices to
farmers so that they can breed animals
and raise produce,â&#x20AC;? he continued.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some people have turned it into
entertainment facilities. Also, everyone receives government subsidies for
the produce grown when it appears in
the market,â&#x20AC;? he added.
Still, the Kuwait government hopes
that the new legislation will help clean
up the agricultural industry and crackdown on violators of regulation.
Jawan said that this could have
been done without sending rent
prices higher.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are not rich people, we make a
decent living, but this will really hurt
us in our ability to work and maintain
our families,â&#x20AC;? he said.
The rent increase includes different
properties used for agricultural purposes under the inspection of PAAAFR.
Jasim Al-Bader, Chairman and General
Director of the Public Authority for
Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources
(PAAAFR) issued a decree on this
regard.
According to its provisions, all current contracts signed between
PAAAFR and tenants should be
changed according to a revised price
list.
For Jawan, who is a renter, â&#x20AC;&#x153;this
means we may have to try and by and
take out a loan because in time, we
wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make it.â&#x20AC;?

s Competition is open
s Competition
open to
to all.
taken by
by the entrants
entrants only.
only.
ss Participating
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allowed per
per participant.
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ss A
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colorr, size
size 30x40cm.
ss Photos
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ss Entries
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provided in hard
hard copy
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photo
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bee on the
CD as well.
well.
ss Original
coupon should be
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with ccomplete
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s All en
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Kuwait
Kuwait
National
National
& Liberation
Liberation
Days
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ays

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Offer valid only at
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TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

Merkel questions 2014 German pullout in surprise Afghan trip
Page 12

Romney’s victories
leave GOP leaders
unimpressed
Page 10

KHARTOUM: In this Saturday, March 10, 2012
photo, Sudanese men pull out drinking water
from a well in Shendi 150 kilometers (93 miles)
northeast of Khartoum, Sudan. Lack of drinking water remains to be problematic in most
homes in Shendi. — AP

200 dead in South
Sudan clashes
Fierce ethnic clashes over cattle rustling
JUBA: Fierce ethnic clashes over cattle rustling
killed more than 200 people in South Sudan at the
weekend, and hundreds more were abducted in
the troubled fledgling nation, a state governor said
yesterday.
The latest attacks appear to be reprisals for a
wave of ethnic violence and cattle raids in the same
area in January when an 8,000-strong militia razed
villages and massacred people in their wake. “The
people killed are around 223 while 150 are injured,”

Jonglei state governor Kuol Manyang told AFP.
“There are about 300 women and children who are
thought to have been abducted.”
Manyang said around 100,000 cows were stolen
on Friday and Saturday when cattle raiders from
the Murle community in Jonglei state attacked the
ethnic Lou Nuer living in neighbouring Upper Nile
state.
M anyang said the attacks in and around
Romyieri, in Nasir territory, started at dawn on
Friday. There has been no independent confirmation of the death toll in a region where such numbers often var y dramatically. The area is ver y
remote with few roads and no mobile network.
The International Medical Corps, an aid agency
in Akobo, a county in Jonglei, said it had treated 63
people evacuated after a five-hour boat journey.
“The caseload includes 60 patients with gunshot
wounds, as well as fractures and other minor
wounds. One person died in transit to the hospital,”
the IMC said in a statement yesterday.
It said a medical team had seen “the bodies of
people killed in the fighting.” The UN has yet to
release a death toll for the January attacks by Lou
Nuer youths on Murle villages, and a speedily produced figure from the commissioner of Pibor county of 3,000 dead remains unverified. A state-wide
disarmament campaign to collect some 20,000
guns in Jonglei started yesterday, but Manyang
said a promised buffer zone between the warring
communities had “not been established” as troops
still needed to set up camps and drill wells.
The last wave of ethnic violence in Jonglei in
December and Januar y affected an estimated
120,000 people, according to Lise Grande, the UN’s
Humanitarian Coordinator for the fledgling nation.
Impoverished Jonglei has seen a dramatic escalation of bloody attacks between rival ethnic
groups over cattle raids
and abductions of people. UN teams are also
entering areas where
reprisal attacks have
since taken place on
Lou Nuer and Dink a
tribes, with the government estimating that
some 150 people have
been killed in a series of
revenge raids. Concerns
are growing for the stability of grossly underdeveloped
S outh
Sudan, which declared
independence last July
af ter decades of war
with the now rump
state of Sudan. — AFP

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Israel says ‘Iron Dome’ proving itself against Gaza rockets
JERUSALEM: Israel says its unique
“Iron Dome” short-range air defence
system is performing well, intercepting the vast majority of rockets fired at
southern cities in the latest barrage by
Gaza militants.
So far three experimental batteries
have been deployed since March 2011
— around Ashkelon, Ashdod and the
Negev desert capital of Beersheva,
which have a combined population of
more than half a million.
Experts say that a total of 13 batteries are needed to give a full nationwide umbrella. By yesterday afternoon, Palestinians had fired more than
200 rockets and mortar rounds from
Gaza into southern Israel since a latest

round of fighting erupted on Friday,
the military said.
Gaza emergency services said that
at least 23 Palestinians had been killed
and 73 wounded since Friday as Israeli
launched 36 air strikes against the territory. Yesterday, 31 rockets headed for
urban centres were targeted by Iron
Dome, which scored 23 hits, the military said, a 75 percent success rate.
“The system is working very well,”
Brigadier General Doron Gavish
briefed reporters at one of the batteries in the vicinity of Ashdod, 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the Gaza border. “Rockets shot at the cities of Israel
are being intercepted by the warriors
who are operating the system,” said

Gavish head of Israel’s national air
defences. Visiting a battery on Sunday,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
spoke of the system’s “impressive
achievements.” “You are doing exceptional work,” he told its crew. “I take the
Israeli people’s hat off to you.”
The system, the first of its kind in
the world, was developed by Israel’s
Rafael Advanced Defence Systems
with the help of US funding. It is
designed to intercept rockets and
artillery shells fired from a range of
between four and 70 kilometres (three
and 45 miles).
Each battery comprises detection
and tracking radar, state-of-the-art fire
control software and three launchers,

each with 20 interceptor missiles, military sources said. Militants in Gaza and
Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia have fired
thousands of rockets at Israel in the
past.
The first batteries were deployed
facing the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, from
where militants have repeatedly fired
improvised rockets, prompting Israel
to launch a devastating 22-day offensive into the territory in December
2008. It is later to be deployed along
the Lebanese border, from where
Hezbollah militants fired some 4,000
rockets into northern Israel during a
2006 war. It was that experience which
prompted the development of Iron
Dome. Israel believes Hezbollah now

has an arsenal of some 40,000 rockets.
But a complete deployment is expected to take several years. Iron Dome
joins the Arrow missile defence system
in an ambitious multi-layered programme to protect Israeli cities from
rockets fired from Gaza or Lebanon, or
missiles fired from Iran or Syria. “It is a
new tool being brought into the basket of tools... a tool we didn’t have
before,” Gavish said.
“We have something new in the
arena that obviously plays in our
favour.” The defence ministry says a
third system, known as David’s Sling, is
currently being developed with the
aim of countering medium-range missiles. — AFP

AMMAN: A picture taken on March 8, 2012, shows Syrian refugee Mahmud
Masri, a 62 year-old blacksmith, and his children at their home in Ramtha city,
north of Amman. Syrian refugees in Jordan see a grim future in their homeland,
saying the regime has not yet shown its “ugly face” and are bracing themselves
for more bloodshed, in which thousands have already died. — AFP

US drones, Yemen
army kill 9 extremists
ADEN: Nine suspected Al-Qaeda militants have been killed in an artillery
attack by the Yemeni army backed by US
drone strikes on their strongholds in the
country’s south, a local official told AFP
yesterday. Three extremists were killed
when US drones fired missiles late on
Sunday targeting their weapons hideouts
in Jabal Khanfar, a hill overlooking the
Abyan town of Jaar, which is controlled
by Al-Qaeda militants, the official said.
A large amount of weapons seized by
the militants in an attack against the
army that left 185 soldiers earlier this
month, were destroyed in the shelling,
said the official who spoke to AFP by telephone from Jaar.
Six other militants were killed when
the army bombed one of their hideouts
in Makhzan, southeast of Jaar, the official
said, asking not to be named. Witnesses
and officials said on Sunday that six US
drone missiles had targeted the suspected weapons hideouts in Jabal Khanfar.
Witnesses reported seeing columns of
smoke billowing into the sky from the targeted locations and said that government buildings, now controlled by Al-

Qaeda fighters, had been damaged.
Al-Qaeda extremists took over Zinjibar,
Abyan’s provincial capital, in May, and
then overran several nearby towns across
the south, including Jaar. Air strikes by
Yemeni and US planes on Friday and
Saturday killed at least 33 suspected AlQaeda militants in Abyan and Al-Bayda
provinces, south of the capital, residents
and local officials said.
Meanwhile in the main southern city
of Aden, suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen
attacked a van transporting money to the
Cooperative & Agricultural Credit Bank
seizing 75 million rials (347,000 dollars), a
police spokeswoman told AFP.
She accused Al-Qaeda militants of the
robbery, adding that the extremists frequently carry out such attacks in an
attempt to finance their operations.
Yemen is the ancestral homeland of slain
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and
the jihadist network took advantage of a
protracted anti-government uprising last
year to strengthen their presence across
the south and east. Washington has long
made the country a major focus of its
“war on terror”. — AFP

Saudis to go on hunger strike
against activist detention
JEDDAH: Dozens of Saudis have
signed up to join a two-day hunger
strike this week to protest against the
detention of a prominent rights
activist, a rights group said. Mohamad
al-Bajadi was detained in March 2011,
activists said, for supporting families
demonstrating outside the Interior
M inistr y in R iyadh to demand the
release of detained relatives. His trial,
on charges including tarnishing the
reputation of the state, has been suspended as he refused to recognise the
court.
The Saudi Civil and Political Rights
Association (ACPRA), which is promoting the hunger strike on Thursday and
Friday, said 38 activists had signed up
on its website so far to participate in
the action.
“ This weekend we will meet in a
public place and strike in public, in a
farmhouse in Riyadh, the Qurtuba district,” activist Mohammad al-Qahtani
told Reuters yesterday. “We hope to
shed light on Mohamad al-Bajadi’s case
and others like him because unfortunately the state does not listen to the
people, so we want to alert the international community to put pressure” on
it, he said. An I nterior M inistr y

spokesman said he was not aware of
the case and declined to make any further comment. Saudi Arabia is a
monarchy that does not tolerate any
kind of public dissent. The kingdom mostly thanks to a generous spending
package announced early last year has avoided the kind of protests that
rocked other Arab countries and resulted in the ouster of four heads of state.
The US ally has seen sporadic
protests, mainly by Shi’ite minority in
the eastern par t of the k ingdom,
despite a ban on marches. The kingdom has blamed foreign instigators for
the protests - a reference to Iran.
Independent rights groups estimate
that the number of prisoners ranges
between 12,000-30,000 but the Interior
Ministry denies there are any political
prisoners in the kingdom. The ministry
said last year it was holding 5,696 people for “militant”-related cases, most of
whom appeared before courts.
The government-affiliated Human
R ights Commission, which repor ts
directly to King Abdullah, said in a
statement yesterday that there are
around 4,600 prisoners held in priso n s, w i t h o u t g i v i n g a ny f u r t h e r
details. — Reuters

BAGHDAD: Attacks against alQaeda’s favorite targets in Iraq
killed 14 people yesterday as
insurgents struck security forces,
a government office and jewelry
stores, demonstrating a continued threat from armed groups
ahead of a meeting of the Arab
world’s top leaders in Baghdad.
Security officials expect alQaeda to ramp up violence over
the next few weeks as Iraq prepares to host the annual Arab
League summit at the end of the
month. There was no immediate
claim of responsibility for yesterday ’s strikes, and numerous
armed groups in Iraq have mixed
attacks on political targets with
money-making criminal operations. But Al-Qaeda in Iraq for
years has been believed to fund
itself in part with cash and gold
stolen from jewelry stores.
Militants struck first in a predawn raid yesterday in the city of
Tarmiyah, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Baghdad, where
police said gunmen in at least
two cars attacked the local mayor’s office. Three policemen were
killed, police and health officials
said. The mayor was not in his
office at the time. A half hour later and a few miles (kilometers)
away, gunmen targeted a police
patrol in a drive-by shooting. Two
policemen were killed, officials
said, and it was not known if the
gunmen were the same group
who attacked the mayor’s office.
A few hours later, two carloads
of robbers armed with grenades
and guns killed nine people and
wounded 14 in a coordinated
strike on an eastern Baghdad
gold market, officials said. The
militants simultaneously attacked
jewelr y stores and a nearby
checkpoint. Baghdad officials
said two policemen, two soldiers

BAGHDAD: A policeman stands guard as Mohammed Abdullah, 32, lies in a hospital bed after being
injured in a coordinated strike on a gold market in eastern Baghdad, Iraq, yesterday. Attacks against
Al-Qaeda’s favorite targets in Iraq killed several people yesterday as insurgents struck security
forces, a government office and jewelry stores, demonstrating a continued threat from armed groups
as the country prepares to host a meeting of the Arab world’s top leaders. — AP
and two goldsmiths were among
the dead at the small market in
the Shiite neighborhood of Ur. “At
first we heard shootings from the
other side of the market, near the
police checkpoint,” said eyewitness Maitham Moussa, 30, who
owns of a dairy shop about 50
yards (meters) from the jewelry
stores. “Then we heard shootings
very close to us. When the
women started to yell, they started to open fire into the air and set
off sound bombs.”
He said people fled the area
and huddled together in a nearby
alley to escape the siege. “I saw a
woman was lying on the ground
with a toddler,” Moussa said.

“ There was blood near the
woman, but I’m not sure if she
was injured or if was the baby’s
blood.” A police officer said the
gunmen stole gold and cash after
the late-morning heist, which the
insurgents pulled off despite a
gunfight with nearby security
forces. Iraqi Army Gen. Hassan alBaydhani of Baghdad’s military
command said one of the gunmen was arrested but the rest
escaped.
A doctor in a nearby Baghdad
hospital confirmed the police
casualty figures. They all spoke on
condition of anonymity as they
were not authorized to release
information. Al-Baydhani put the

Israel, settlers
agree to disband
illegal outpost

GAZA STRIP: Wounded Palestinian children receive medical atttention at a hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, following an Israeli air
raid. Israeli war planes carried out new air strikes on Gaza overnight, wounding
35, after Israel’s premier vowed no let-up against rocket-firing militants. —AFP

Emirati faces charges after tweeting ‘incitement’
DUBAI: A UAE prosecutor has referred
to a security court an Emirati man
arrested in Dubai last week on
charges of “incitement” and attempts
to undermine national security, the
WAM news agency reported yesterday.
Saleh al-Dhafairi was arrested in
Dubai on March 6th and was accused
by the government of “incitement

through writing or verbally spreading
ideas that damage national unity or
social peace,” af ter comments he
posted on the micro-blogging site
Twitter. Dubai’s general prosecutor
decided to refer the case to the federal security court because Dhafairi’s
action “endangered the interests...
and securit y ” of the United Arab
Emirates, the official WAM news

number of dead at six. Conflicting
casualty totals are common in the
immediate aftermath of attacks in
Iraq. Although violence has
dropped significantly since the
sectarian fighting that brought
Iraq to the edge of civil war just
five years ago, deadly attacks still
happen almost every day.
US officials as recently as
September said jewelry robberies
were a main source of funding for
Al-Qaeda in Iraq as it grapples
with dwindling financial support.
The Sunni militant movement
also frequently targets officials of
the Shiite-led government in a
campaign to undermine confidence in its authority. — AP

agenc y said. Al-Dhafairi is also
accused of “using religion to... incite”
action against the state, the agency
added. The securit y cour t, also
known as the Federal High Cour t,
which rules on cases which involve
state security issues, will decide if AlDhafairi should stand trial. The UAE, a
federation of seven emirates led by
oil-rich Abu Dhabi, has not seen any

popular protests calling for reform
like those that have swept other Arab
countries, including Gulf states
Bahrain and Oman.
But in November, UAE President
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahayan
pardoned five Emirati I nternet
activists, jailed for up to three years
on charges including insulting the
Gulf state’s leaders. — AFP

JERUSALEM: The Israeli government struck
a deal Sunday to disband the biggest and
oldest settler outpost in the West Bank and
relocate its residents to a nearby hill, public
radio said.
The agreement to relocate settlers from
the Migron illegal outpost was negotiated
by Benny Begin, a minister without portfolio
in the government, the radio said.
M igron settlers will be moved to a hill
two kilometres (1.2 miles) away where new
homes will be built for them and the current
site will be turned over to the Israeli military administration, it said. Isral’s Supreme
Court had ordered the Migron outpost to be
evacuated by the end of March.
M igron, located nor th of Jerusalem, is
built on privately owned Palestinian land.
Israel considers settlement outposts built
without government approval to be illegal
and often sends security personnel to
demolish them, although in recent months
the government has announced its intention to retroactively legalise a number of
them.
More than 310,000 Israelis live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and the
number is constantly growing. Another
200,000 live in a dozen settlement neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem, which was
captured by Israel in 1967 and annexed in a
move never recognised by the international
community.
The international community considers
all settlements in territories occupied by
Israel since the 1967 Middle East war are
illegal, whether or not approved by its government. — AFP

9

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

INTERNATIONAL

Sarkozy tries to shake up race with eurosceptic turn
PARIS: After an initial bid to run for
re-election as self-styled saviour of
the euro, Nicolas Sarkozy has
launched a bid to shake up his lacklustre polling numbers with a surprise new eurosceptic stance. With
barely six weeks to go before the
first round of voting, and with the
French leader’s Socialist opponent
Francois Hollande still frontrunner
for the presidency, Sarkozy struck a
strident new tone in a Sunday rally.
He threatened to pull France out
of the Schengen open borders
agreement and demanded the
European Union adopt measures to
fight cheap imports, warning that
France might otherwise pass a unilateral “Buy French” law.
“I want a Europe that protects its
citizens. I no longer want this savage competition,” he declared to a
cheering crowd. “I have lost none of
my will to act, my will to make
things change, my belief in the
genius of France.” Sarkozy’s right-

wing supporters were delighted,
both in the large conference hall in
the Paris suburbs where his speech
received an ecstatic reception, and
in media interviews and on Internet
message forums afterwards.
But the left was quick to attack
what they saw as a populist stunt. “I
felt I wasn’t listening to a French
president, because a French president always wants to build Europe,
push it forward. This was a conservative British prime minister,” said
Hollande’s campaign manager
Pierre Moscovici.
Moscovici said Britain had led
opposition to the Schengen
accords-under which most EU
members agreed to abandon border controls between the states-and
said Sarkozy’s threat was a “phenomenal step backwards”.
From the far left, presidential
candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon
scorned what he dubbed a late conversion to euroscepticism from a

leader who had hitherto demonstrated a “particular case of
European servility”.
Melenchon boasted that his “Left
Front”, a coalition of Communist
and far left socialists, had pioneered
the idea of disobeying EU laws
when they run contrary to French
national interests.
On the far right, Marine Le Pen
and her National Front have gone
further than Sarkozy in demanding
that France quit the euro and close
its borders. Thus far in the campaign, Europe has been seen as a
more difficult issue for Hollande
than for Sarkozy, who has received
the more or less open backing of
the right-wing leaders of Germany,
Spain and Britain.
Hollande, by contrast, has been
warned that his vow to renegotiate
Europe’s hard-won debt pact could
see Paris isolated among its allies.
But commentators in the French
press said yesterday that Sarkozy’s

new tack had confused his message,
and could offend France’s allies.
“Yesterday he was accused by
Nicolas Sarkozy of calling France’s
word into question. This morning,
Francois Hollande may look a very
moderate reformer in the eyes of
our neighbours,” wrote Herve Favre
in La Voix du Nord.
“So, will his conservative counterparts in London, Madrid and
Berlin, who snubbed Francois
Hollande because he wants to renegotiate the latest EU treaty, now in
turn boycott Nicolas Sarkozy?”
demanded Bruno Dive in SudOuest.
A first round of voting in the
presidential election will take place
on April 22, followed by a run-off
between the top two candidates on
May 6. All recent opinion polls forecast that Hollande will win a closefought first round and then enjoy a
comfortable victory against Sarkozy
in the second. —AFP

BLAGNAC: French far-right Front National (FN) party’s candidate
for the 2012 French presidential election, Marine Le Pen gives a
press conference focused on research yesterday in Blagnac,
southern France. —AFP

THE HAGUE: New Presiding judge of the Court Peter Tomka from Slovakia,
center, Vice-President of the Court Bernardo Sepulveda-Amor from
Mexico, left and Judge Hisashi Owada from Japan, at the start of a hearing
at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, yesterday.
Lawyers for Belgium are urging judges at the United Nations’ highest
court to order Senegal to either prosecute former Chad dictator Hissene
Habre, 69, or extradite him to face trial in Belgium for atrocities during his
brutal eight-year rule. —AP

Belgium seeks world court
order on ex-Chad leader
THE HAGUE: Lawyers for Belgium urged
the United Nations’ highest court yesterday to order Senegal to prosecute former
Chad dictator Hissene Habre or extradite
him for trial for allegedly masterminding
atrocities during his brutal eight-year
rule. Habre has lived in a luxury villa in
Senegal’s capital, Dakar, since rebels ousted him 1990 and has become a symbol of
Africa’s inability to try leaders from the
continent accused of rights abuses.
The case at the International Court of
Justice is about “taking a stand against
impunity in the most serious crimes in
international law,” Belgian representative
Paul Rietjens told judges in the wood paneled Great Hall of Justice.
Belgium indicted Habre in 2005 for
crimes against humanity, war crimes and
torture based on complaints by survivors
of his regime, some of whom have
Belgian citizenship, but has failed to persuade Senegal to extradite him to
Brussels despite repeated requests.
“These victims are entitled to see the
person they accuse of these crimes
brought to justice,” Rietjens said. “Justice
delayed is justice denied.” Belgium accuses Senegal of breaching its obligations
under the convention that says countries
holding people accused of torture have a
duty to either prosecute or extradite
them.
“Senegal has been and continues to be
in breach of its obligations under the torture convention,” said lawyer Sir Michael
Wood. Senegal will present its arguments
starting Thursday and judges are likely to
take months to reach a decision.
International Court of Justice rulings are
binding.
Senegal’s chief representative Cheikh
Tidiane Thiam said after Monday’s hearing that his country was moving as fast as
it could. “Senegal is doing its best in a
timeframe we consider reasonable,” he
told reporters outside court.
The African Union last year urged
Senegal to prosecute or extradite Habre.
Days later, Dakar said it would send him

back to Chad, where he has been convicted in his absence of crimes against the
state and sentenced to death.
That announcement caused an uproar
as activists feared he would not get a fair
trial at home and days later, Senegal
backtracked on the threat to deport
Habre. Despite repeatedly saying it wants
to put Habre on trial, Senegal has
dragged its feet for years, arguing it
needs outside help to fund the case. After
initially saying a trial would cost up to
euro29 million, Senegal agreed at a
donor’s conference in 2010 to a budget of
euro8.6 million ($11.3 million).
“Senegalese authorities have still not taken any concrete action to investigate or
prosecute,” said Gerard Dive of Belgium’s
federal justice service.
According to a Human Rights Watch
report, Habre seized power in 1982 and
swiftly established a brutal dictatorship to
stamp out any opposition, but was finally
toppled by current Chad President Idriss
Deby in 1990.
A Chadian commission of inquiry concluded Habre’s regime killed and tortured
tens of thousands of political opponents.
“Under Habre, a wife was afraid of her
husband and vice versa and they were
both afraid of their children,” said lawyer
Jacqueline Moudeina, who represents
survivors of Habre’s regime. “Chadians
were afraid of their own shadow.”
Habre’s Senegal-based lawyer El Hadj
Diouf has called the international court
case a “new kind of judicial imperialism”
and said Belgium should give Senegal the
chance to try Habre.
But activists say Senegal has had
more than enough time and now the
world court should turn over the case to
Belgium. “For us, the case is ... what we
would call in America a slam dunk,” said
Re e d Bro d y , a Hum an R ight s W at c h
activist who has long fought for justice
for Habre’s victims. “Senegal has an obligation to prosecute or extradite. It has
been 21 years and they have not done
it.” —AP

NAIROBI: Kenyan police said yesterday they
arrested four people over weekend grenade
attacks in Nairobi that killed six people and
which Kenya blames on supporters of Somali
Islamist insurgents. “On the Al-Shebab
threats and attacks at the Machakos bus terminus, four highly suspected criminals were
arrested and are undergoing intensive interrogation,” Nairobi Provincial Police chief
Antony Kibuchi said.
Six people were killed and more than 60
wounded when four hand grenades were
hurled at a crowd in a bus terminus in the
Kenyan capital on Saturday. The suspects, all
of whom are believed to be Kenyan, three of
them reportedly minors, were being interrogated by specialised police units, including
anti-terrorism officers, a police source said.
The Al-Qaeda allied Shebab has threatened

Kenya since it sent its troops into south
Somalia in mid-October to attack bases of the
insurgents, whom Nairobi accuses of a series
of kidnappings and attacks on its territory.
One of the men arrested had been on a police
wanted list, suspected of having links to
Shebab and Kenyan affiliates.
Saturday’s attack was the deadliest in
Nairobi since one in June 2010, not attributed
to Islamists, during a public meeting against
the adoption of a new constitution, in which
the death toll was also six.
Neither attack came close to the devastating Al-Qaeda car bombing of the US embassy
in August 1998 that killed 213 people and
injured 5,000.
Forty-two people wounded in Saturday’s
attacks were still being treated in hospital yesterday, police said. In Somalia, regional armies

are pushing against Shebab positions, with
Kenyan forces in the far south, Ethiopian soldiers in the west and African Union forces in
Mogadishu made up of troops from Uganda,
Burundi and Djibouti.
In retaliation, the Shebab have carried out
grenade attacks and abductions in areas near
the porous Kenya-Somalia border, killing and
wounding several people. Last October, less
than two weeks after the Kenyan army sent
troops and tanks into Somalia, two grenade
attacks in the space of less than 24 hours
killed one person and wounded 30.
The International Crisis Group said in a
November report that Nairobi should cool its
high hopes of defeating the Shebab, a ruthless and resilient militia fighting to overthrow
the Western-backed government in lawless
Somalia. —AFP

Gunmen kill three
near Nigerian
flashpoint city
LAGOS: Gunmen shot dead three Christians in
Nigeria near the flashpoint city of Jos, hours after 10
people were killed in a suicide bombing and related
violence at a church, an official said yesterday.
In a separate incident in the northern city of
Kano, gunmen in a car opened fire early yesterday
on a police station that has been the target of several attacks, wounding two officers, according to
residents. The gunmen near Jos struck late Sunday
in a village south of the city where ChristianMuslim tensions ran high after the church attack,
state government spokesman Pam Ayuba told
AFP, though the two attacks were not thought to
be linked.
“Unknown gunmen, in an apparent ambush
late Sunday, waylaid and shot dead three people
and injured three others-all Christians-in Chugwi
village,” Ayuba said. Such violence has occurred
repeatedly in and around Jos, located in the middle belt region of Africa’s most populous nation
between the mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.
Clashes between Christian and Muslim ethnic
groups in the area have killed thousands in recent
years. “We suspect that the attackers were herdsmen. They left with the handsets of those killed
and called numbers on their phones to alert their
(the victims’) relations that they were responsible
for the killings,” he said from the scene of the
attack.
Ayuba, who is a native of the Christian village,
said no arrests have been made. The victims
included two brothers aged 25 and 30, he said.
Three other people at Dogo Garba, a nearby hamlet, were wounded by the same gunmen and were
taken to a nearby government hospital for treatment, he added.
The shootings came hours after a suicide attack
outside a Roman Catholic church in Jos killed seven people, sparking panic and reprisals in which
security forces opened fire and youths clashed,
leaving three others dead.
It was the second suicide attack on a church in
the city in two weeks, after a February 26 attack
claimed by Islamist group Boko Haram killed three
people and injured dozens. Government and relief
officials told AFP that in addition to the 10 killed,
24 people were injured and had been taken to
three government hospitals in the city.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan condemned Sunday’s bombing and reaffirmed his
government’s determination “to end the spate of
mindless attacks and killings”. Jos remained tense
in the aftermath of the bombing amid fears of a
repeat of deadly riots which followed last month’s
attack.
The volatile city was gradually returning to normal yesterday morning with banks and shops
opening for business, residents said. No one has
claimed responsibility for Sunday’s bombing.
Yesterday’s attack in Kano occurred at Mandawari
police station, which has been repeatedly targeted by suspected members of Boko Haram.
Boko Haram carried out its deadliest attack yet
in Kano, Nigeria’s second-largest city, with coordinated bombings and shootings on January 20
which killed 185 people. —AFP

BELGRADE: Serbian President Boris Tadic (3R) and widow of the assassinated Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, Ruzica Djindjic (C) flanked by
Serbian officials arrive at Belgrade’s new cemetery yesterday. Hundreds of
supporters paid tribute to late reformist Serbian prime minister on the
anniversary of his 2003 assassination. Djindjic was the Balkan country’s
first democratically elected prime minister. He is best remembered for
striving to bring Serbia closer to Europe after late strongman Slobodan
Milosevic was ousted in a popular uprising in October 2000. —AFP

Angola anti-government
protest triggered clash
LUANDA: Angolan police are investigating a
weekend clash in the capital Luanda
between young anti-government protesters
calling for the resignation of President Jose
Eduardo dos Santos and pro-government
supporters who confronted them.
Witnesses said at least three protesters
were injured when individuals dressed in
plain clothes, some armed with sticks, moved
in to disperse the small demonstration on
Saturday by about 30 young people in the
poor suburb of Cazenga.
The demonstrators called for Dos Santos
to quit. They also called for the removal of
Susana Ingles, whose re-appointment as the
head of Angola’s national elections committee in January has raised political tensions
ahead of an election later this year in subSaharan Africa’s second biggest oil producer.
“The National Police received complaints
that two different groups were confronting
each other in Cazenga and it is presumed the
groups had different philosophies,” a police
spokesman said, quoted by the Portuguese
news agency Lusa late on Sunday. “Some
support the democratically-elected state
institutions and others contest the authorities,” he added, saying that the police, who
arrived at the scene after the clash ended,
would continue investigating the incident.
Several protests were attempted last year
by a budding anti-government youth movement in Angola, presenting a rare challenge
to the 32-year rule of Dos Santos. Most of the
protests were blocked by police and one
resulted in several arrests and injuries to protesters, journalists and police officers.
Opponents of the government say national elections committee chief Ingles is linked
to Dos Santos’ ruling MPLA party and so cannot guarantee a free and fair vote in parliamentary elections to be held in the third

quarter of this year.
The parliamentary election will be only
the second in Angola since the end of a 27year civil war in 2002, and will elect the country’s president as well as lawmakers. The
MPLA has defended Ingles’ re-appointment
saying it was an impartial decision by the
Magistrates Superior Council and that opposition parties’ criticism has been aimed at
causing instability in the run up to the election. The main opposition party UNITA has
threatened to organise its own protests if further appeals and talks with the ruling party
about the issue are not satisfactory. Human
rights organisations have long accused Dos
Santos’ government of avoiding public scrutiny, repressing protest and dissent and mismanaging the country’s oil revenues.
At the Cazenga protest on Saturday, the
demonstrators shouted “Violence no, freedom yes!” and carried banners saying
“Susana (Ingles), get out of the CNE (national
elections committee)”. They dispersed after
an unidentified person fired a shot in the air.
Earlier, some 15 unidentified individuals in
plain clothes, some wielding sticks, had
moved to break up the demonstration. They
appeared well organised and commanded
by one of their number, witnesses said. At
least one protester was caried away by colleagues with his face bloodied.
Lusa said a senior member of the Bloco
Democratico opposition party had also suffered injuries at the protest and was later
assaulted by unidentified men outside a clinic in Luanda. The agency said police declined
to comment on this. Opposition parties
argue Ingles’ re-appointment violates election laws because they say she does not fit
the legal requirements to head the committee as she is a lawyer and not a magistrate
court judge. —Reuters

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Love letters reveal Nixon’s sensitive side
YORBA LINDA: Long before Richard
Nixon rose to power and fell from
grace, he was just another man in love.
Decades before he became known to
some as “Tricky Dick,” Nixon was the
one penning nicknames (sweet ones)
to his future bride in gushy love notes
that reveal a surprisingly soft and
romantic side of the man taken down
by Watergate. Nixon shared the stage
with Patricia Ryan in a community theater production and six of the dozens
of letters they exchanged during their
two-year courtship will be unveiled
Friday at the Richard Nixon
Presidential Library and Museum as
part of an exhibit celebrating the
100th birthday of the woman Nixon
playfully called his “Irish gypsy.”
In Nixon’s letters, he recalls their
first meeting in flowery prose, daydreams about their future together
and waxes poetic about the first time
his “dearest heart” agreed to take a
drive with him. “Every day and every
night I want to see you and be with
you. Yet I have no feeling of selfish
ownership or jealousy,” he writes in
one undated letter. “Let’s go for a long
ride Sunday; let’s go to the mountains
weekends; let’s read books in front of
fires; most of all, let’s really grow
together and find the happiness we
know is ours.”
Eighteen years after his death, the

correspondence offers a tiny window
into a fiercely private side of Nixon
that almost no one ever saw and represents a love letter of sorts to fans of
the 37th US president, who were infuriated when the National Archives
took over the museum and overhauled it to include a detailed chronicle of Watergate.
“These letters are fabulous. It’s a
totally different person from the
Watergate tapes that people know.
President Nixon started out as an idealistic young man ready to conquer
the world and with Pat Ryan he knew
he could do it. There’s a lot of hope,
there’s a lot of tenderness and it’s very
poetic,” said Olivia Anastasiadis, supervisory museum curator.
“He loved her, he was absolutely
enthralled by her and that’s all he
thought about.” The letters stand in
stark contrast to the grim-faced leader
forced to resign in 1974, disgraced.
Instead, Nixon comes across as an
ardent and persistent suitor in the letters, which date from 1938 to just
before the couple’s marriage in June
1940. The two met while auditioning
for “The Dark Tower” in the Southern
California town of Whittier and dated
for two years until Nixon proposed to
his sweetheart on the south Orange
County cliffs overlooking the Pacific
Ocean. He later delivered her engage-

ment ring in a small basket overflowing with mayflowers. They were married in a small ceremony on June 21,
1940.

Nixon - raised a Quaker - uses “thee”
instead of “you” to refer to his future
bride, a pronoun that signals a special
closeness in the Quaker tradition. He

YORBA LINDA: In this photo taken Thursday, March 8, 2012, Richard Nixon
Foundation consultant Bob Bostock reads love letters exchanged between
Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, in the early years of their romance and
long before he became president, that are displayed at the Richard Nixon
Presidential Library upcoming exhibit celebrating Pat Nixon’s 100th birthday, in Yorba Linda, California. — AP
The romantic touch and chivalry
that Nixon brought to his seaside proposal comes through in the letters, as
well. In two of the handwritten notes,

also writes about himself in the third
person, referring to himself as a “prosaic person” whose heart was
nonetheless “filled with that grand

poetic music” upon knowing her.
“Somehow on Tuesday there was
something electric in the usually
almost stifling air in Whittier. And now
I know. An Irish gypsy who radiates all
that is happy and beautiful was there.
She left behind her a note addressed
to a struggling barrister who looks
from a window and dreams. And in
that note he found sunshine and flowers, and a great spirit which only great
ladies can inspire,” Nixon wrote.
“Someday let me see you again? In
September? Maybe?” A much more
practical - and somewhat less impulsive - Pat Ryan replies in one short
note: “In case I don’t see you before
why don’t you come early Wednesday
(6) - and I’ll see if I can burn a hamburger for you.”
The object of Nixon’s affection was
slower to come around, but eventually
was just as smitten with Nixon as he
was with her, said Ed Nixon, Nixon’s
youngest brother, in a phone interview
from his Seattle home. “She was quite
an independent young lady and she
was very cautious about anyone she
met and if they couldn’t smile, she
wouldn’t want to do too much unless
she could make them smile. That captured Dick’s imagination,” the younger
Nixon said. “She was challenging. She
challenged me and I think she challenged Dick.” — AP

NEW ORLEANS: In this March 1, 2012, file photo volunteers from Joplin, Mo. who
traveled to New Orleans to work with a group that renovates Katrina-damaged
homes, help dedicate a newly renovated home in New Orleans. The two cities
devastated by recent natural disasters — Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and a killer
Midwestern tornado 10 months ago — are forging an unlikely partnership that
could change the way other American cities both plan for and recover from the
next blow by nature’s fury. — AP

Unlikely partners unite
after natural disasters
NEW ORLEANS: One is a low-lying river
city built on a swamp basin, a multicultural
melting pot known the world over for legendary excesses, from lung-searing food to
French Quarter flashers. The other lies
square in the buckle of the Bible Belt, an
old Tornado Alley railroad hub best known
as a Route 66 stopover for everyone from
RV campers to the outlaws Bonnie and
Clyde.
With vastly different cultures and landscapes, it might seem on the surface that
New Orleans and Joplin, Mo., have little in
common. But as cities devastated by recent
natural disasters - Hurricane Katrina in 2005
and a historic Midwestern tornado 10
months ago - the two are forging an
unlikely partnership that could change the
way other American cities prepare for and
recover from the next unexpected blow by
nature.
“We both had natural disasters we didn’t
ask for,” said Jerrod Hogan, a Joplin landscape surveyor. “And we both have folks in
our communities who need help to get
back to where things were.” Hogan is
among the founders of Rebuild Joplin, a
nonprofit group formed after the May 22,
2011, twister that killed 161 people and
destroyed 4,000 homes, many in the southwest Missouri city’s low-income neighborhoods. The Joplin group recently returned
from a 28-hour, 1,400-mile roundtrip bus

ride to New Orleans, which endured a
death toll nine times as large.
The visitors swung hammers and power
saws, working side-by-side with a homeowner still trying to return to his Mid-City
neighborhood more than six years after
Katrina. Besides dealing with insurance
payments that don’t fully cover repair
costs, the man has been battling injuries
from military service and a teenage son’s
bone-marrow transplant.
They surveyed a 515-unit affordable
housing complex near City Park, once the
gang-ridden St. Bernard public housing
development before it was flooded by 10
feet of water. Now it features tree-lined
sidewalks, a fitness center and swimming
pool.
They toured business incubators and
startup office clusters where tattooed
workers in shorts and sleeveless T-shirts
work as graphic artists, social media entrepreneurs or freelance lawyers. But no matter who they asked across New Orleans, the
Joplin contingent kept hearing the same
underlying message: Don’t just rebuild, but
reinvent. “The day after Katrina, everybody
became an entrepreneur,” said Tim
Williamson, chief executive officer of The
Idea Village, a New Orleans nonprofit created several years before the August 2005
hurricane to promote innovation in local
business. — AP

US university student
arrested after threats
WASHINGTON: A University of
Maryland student was arrested and
taken for psychiatric evaluation after
posting threats about a shooting rampage that would “make it to the national news,” the school said.
The university ’s Department of
Public Safety said it made the arrest
Sunday of Alexander Song, 19, after
learning of the threats at the university’s campus at College Park, Maryland.
“The person posting the comments
stated he had thoughts of committing
an act of violence at the UMCP campus
on Sunday, March 11, 2012,” the statement said.
“The quote on the website(s) were ‘I
will be on a shooting rampage tomorrow on campus,’ ‘hopefully I kill
enough people to make it to national
news,’ and ‘stay away from the Mall
tomorrow at 1:30.’” School police
traced the messages to Song, a current

student at the Maryland campus.
“University police detectives and patrol
officers worked through the night to
identify and apprehend Mr. Song,” the
statement said. “This incident was taken extremely seriously by this agency
and all efforts were put forth to bring it
to a speedy and safe resolution.”
After his arrest, detectives “determined that an emergency psychiatric
evaluation was necessary,” the statement said. “Accordingly, Mr Song was
taken to an area hospital for evaluation. Mr Song was unarmed at the time
of the arrest.”
Song has been charged with a misdemeanor offense of disturbing the
orderly conduct of school activities
and faces up to six months in jail and a
fine of $2,500 if convicted. The youth
has also been suspended from the
school and will not be allowed on campus. — AFP

WASHINGTON: Mitt Romney’s Super Tuesday
victories elicited a collective yawn from his
party’s superdelegates. Since Tuesday’s voting, Romney has added only a single endorsement to his total among members of the
Republican National Committee, the party
leaders who automatically attend the national
convention this summer. They can support
any candidate they choose, so they can play
an important role at the convention.
Some of the undecided superdelegates say
they expect the former Massachusetts governor to be the eventual nominee but, like
many Republican voters, they’re not quite
ready to embrace him. “Right now I am comfortable with this going a bit longer,” said Jeff
Johnson, a national committee member from
Minnesota.
In fact, Johnson has endorsed former
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and he said he
was “hanging tight for now.” But, he acknowledged, “There may be a point where it seems
all but impossible for him to win.”
The Associated Press has polled 107 of the
117 Republican National Committee delegates. Romney has 24 endorsements, far
more than any other candidate but only one
more than he had the previous week.
Gingrich has four endorsements and former
Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has two unchanged from the previous week.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul lost an RNC delegate,
leaving him with just one. Seventy-six of the
delegates said they were undecided or not
ready to make a public endorsement. The latest poll was conducted Wednesday to Friday immediately after the biggest day of the election, when voters in 10 states made their
choices. Romney won six of 10 Super Tuesday
contests and more than twice as many delegates that day as any other candidate.
But he’s having trouble connecting with
the party’s conservative base, a weakness that
could hurt him in Saturday’s caucuses in
Kansas and Tuesday’s primaries in Alabama
and Mississippi. Many GOP activists say they
worry that a long, nasty primary fight could
leave the eventual nominee bruised when he
takes on President Barack Obama in the fall.
But most of the RNC members with the power
to shorten the contest are taking a wait-andsee approach.
After all, these same RNC officials adopted
new rules last summer meant to lengthen the
nominating process by requiring early-voting

states to award delegates proportionally,
instead of winner-take-all. Henry Barbour, an
RNC member from Mississippi, said a vigorous
primary battle will toughen the eventual
nominee for what promises to be a rough

he is the only candidate on pace to reach the
magic number before the party’s national
convention in August. At their current rates,
Santorum and Gingrich won’t reach even half
the number needed.

MOBILE: Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney
addresses supporters while appearing with comedian Jeff Foxworthy at the Whistle Stop
cafe yesterday in Mobile, Alabama. Alabama and Mississippi hold their primaries tomorrow. — AFP
campaign against Obama. “If you’re going to
be leader of the free world, you’re going to
have to put on your big boy pants,” said
Barbour, who first endorsed Texas Gov. Rick
Perry but switched to Romney after Perry
dropped out.
James Dunn, an RNC member from
Oklahoma, said, “It’s not going to be easy to
defeat Obama. If they can’t handle the nomination process, their skin isn’t thick enough to
handle the big race.” Dunn used to support
Paul but said he now is undecided after Paul
finished fourth in the Oklahoma primary.
“I don’t know what the heck I’m going to
do. I’m not happy with the two front-runners,”
Dunn said of Romney and Santorum. “I like
things about them. I dislike things about both
of them.” In the overall race for delegates,
Romney leads with 431, followed by
Santorum with 181 and Gingrich with 107.
Paul trails with 46.
Romney is still a long way from the 1,144
delegates needed to win the nomination, but

To date, Romney has won 56 percent of the
delegates available in primaries and caucuses;
Santorum has won 24 percent, and Gingrich
has won 14 percent. The RNC has a total of
168 members - three from each state, the
District of Columbia and five US territories. In
some states, RNC members must support the
winner of local primaries or caucuses.
The AP has identified 39 states and territories in which the RNC members will be free to
support any candidate they choose. That’s 117
RNC delegates who will essentially be free
agents at the convention.
A total of 2,286 delegates are slated to
attend the Republican National Convention in
Tampa, Fla. The RNC delegates make up only 5
percent of them. But if Romney stumbles and
can’t amass enough delegates in primaries
and caucuses, the RNC members would play
an important role.
Jeff Berman, who ran Obama’s delegate
operation in 2008, said lobbying for the RNC
delegates can be intense. — AP

Right-wing party leads by
slim margin in Salvador polls
SAN SALVADOR: A right-wing
opposition party yesterday led by a
slim margin in El Salvador’s general
election in which the leftist government of President Mauricio
Funes faced a key test of its popularity.
With more than 89 percent of
precincts reporting, the Supreme
Electoral Tribunal said the
Nationalist Republican Alliance
(ARENA) was ahead with slightly
over 39.7 percent of the vote. It
was closely followed by the ruling
Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front (FMLN) with 36.8
percent.
A conservative coalition named
GANA led by ex-president Elias
Antonio Saca, a congressional ally
of the FMLN, was a distant third
with just 9.4 percent of the ballot.
Six smaller parties also fielded candidates. If the results hold, ARENA
will control 33 out of 84 congres-

sional seats, FMLN 31 and GANA
11, officials said. ARENA, which
ruled El Salvador for two decades
following the country’s civil war,
campaigned on a tough anti-crime
platform that resonated with many
voters tired of rampant crime.
“I voted because I want to see
changes in this country-our children and grandchildren live just
like us, afraid of so much violence,”
Mirna de Cordova, 66, told AFP. De
Cordova showed up with her husband Roberto early to vote at a
polling station on the outskirts of
the capital San Salvador, only to
find that polls opened more than
an hour behind schedule due to
logistical problems.
Like many voters, De Cordova
said she wants to toughen laws
against crime. Around 14 people
are murdered every day in El
Salvador, population six million,
according to government figures.

While unemployment dropped
during the Funes administration,
young people continue to emigrate to the United States.
A staggering one in three
Salvadorans now lives in the
United States, providing remittances of more than 3.6 billion dollars in 2011, around one sixth of
gross domestic product. Funes, a
political moderate with high
approval ratings, has two more
years as president in this tiny,
densely-populated
Central
American nation.
But his popularity does not necessarily transfer into votes for his
party, the FMLN. In an improvised
press conference as he voted
Sunday, Funes urged voters to help
him “guarantee that the changes
that are taking place are strengthened, and not turned back.”
The FMLN has campaigned
promising social programs and job

creation in a nation with unemployment among one third of the
population. ARENA has pledged a
tougher tack against crime and
youth gangs, or “Maras,” that now
control entire neighborhoods in
large cities and smaller communities, which they turn into drug-trafficking havens.
Both main parties “have developed similar propaganda... without
explaining how they will deliver on
their promises,” said Jannet Aguilar,
director of the Institute of Public
Opinion at the UCA. As well as voting for lawmakers, about 4.5 million Salvadorans also elected mayors of 262 towns and cities. The
biggest single prize was for mayor
of the capital San Salvador, where
ARENA Mayor Norman Quijano has
strong support in his reelection
race against the FMLN’s Schafik
Handal, son of a prominent exguerrilla of the same name. — AFP

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

i n t e r n at i o n a l

S Korea rejects China’s claim on disputed reef
SEOUL: South Korea yesterday said a submerged
outcropping of rock off its southern coast was
part of its “natural territory”, days after a top
Chinese official reportedly laid claim to the disputed area.
Ieodo-a reef about five metres (16.4 feet)
underwater-lies within the overlapping exclusive
economic zones of South Korea and China and
for years has been a source of diplomatic strain
between both nations.

President Lee Myung-Bak called the area a
“natural South Korean territory by any measure”,
saying it was closer to South Korea’s southernmost island of Marado than to the nearest
Chinese island by about 100 kilometres.
“Chinese government will know, based on
common sense, that Ieodo belongs to South
Korea,” Lee told reporters, adding that years of
bilateral negotiations to reach agreement yielded little progress.

Lee’s comment came after Liu Cigui, the chief
of China’s State Oceanic Administration, said that
Ieodo was in waters under Chinese control and
should be patrolled by Chinese vessels and aircraft, according to media reports.
South Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kim
Jae-Shin summoned Chinese Ambassador Zhang
Xinsen yesterday to lodge a protest against Liu’s
comments, ministry officials said. Beijing’s
renewed claim to the area is being seen as a way

to get an upper hand in future negotiations with
Seoul over maritime territory, analysts say.
Lee warned any disputes in the resource-rich
area-Seoul’s major sea trade route-could cause a
serious setback to the country’s trade-driven
economy.
South Korea in 2003 tried to reinforce its control over the disputed area by building a maritime research station there despite Beijing’s
opposition. — AFP

HEFEI: A squad of Chinese special police show off their skill in dealing
with a hostage situation in a bus during a demonstration of their
skills in Hefei, east China’s Anhui province yesterday. China will
spend 111.6 billion USD on its police forces in this year, the government said as it focuses on quelling rising social unrest ahead of a 10yearly leadership change. — AFP

Rising Chinese political
stars step out in parliament
BEIJING: With his easy laugh, undyed hair
and casual style, Hu Chunhua is not one of
your average Chinese leaders, who are better
known for their rigid and dull uniformity.
Stepping out this week at China’s annual
meeting of parliament, Inner Mongolia
Communist Party boss Hu is one of the country’s rising political stars, and like other senior
leaders mixing with the media this past week
he has been forthcoming about challenges
facing his region.
Just don’t expect Hu or others like him to
offer any insights on how their careers might
play out. “Everyone is paying rather a lot of
attention to this,” Hu told reporters, cracking a
sly smile when asked about his prospects for
advancement.
“I will say this: I am currently the Party
Secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous
Region. So I have to concentrate on doing my
job well here,” said Hu, a relatively sprightly
48. Hu is part of the so-called “sixth generation” of potential national leaders born in the
1960s, after the generations headed by Mao
Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu
Jintao and, if this year’s leadership transition
goes as expected, Xi Jinping.
Other contenders for top office at the 18th
Communist Party Congress in Beijing late this
year were equally coy about their political
futures. Their fates will be decided behind
closed doors by top leaders, and in Party politics misstep can be as important as achievements.
“For myself, speaking from my heart, I’ve
never associated myself with anything specific about the 18th Congress”, Bo Xilai, the
ambitious party boss of Chongqing, told a
throng of reporters. Bo, 62 and a member of
the “fifth generation”, has been attending the
parliamentary meeting under a cloud since
the apparent defection attempt in February
by a senior aide.
He was characteristically oblique about his
career prospects. “ To greet the 18th
Congress, Chongqing is now striving do well
in all aspects of its work, and I think that’s the
most practical thing, and other matters aren’t
for us to consider.”
Still, the rare interactions between these
senior officials and the media at parliament
over the past few years have provided a
glimpse of the personalities and styles of
those who could one day craft policy in the

world’s most populous nation.
Zhou Qiang, the 51-year-old Party chief in
the southern province of Hunan, has defined
his term in office with a pledge to build the
rule of law. Zhou drew a veiled distinction
between the way things work in his province
and the campaigns led by Bo, whose crackdown on the mafia in Chongqing with mass
arrests and executions has left China’s reformminded lawyers aghast.
“We want to legally fight against all
crimes, including mafia-style crimes,” Zhou
said, stressing the word ‘legally’. “Hunan’s
social controls have been stable, and the people’s satisfaction with security has been rising
as has their feeling of safety.” Economic issues
have been at the front of worries of
Guangdong’s Party boss Wang Yang, who has
said his southern export powerhouse faces
great pressures, including high inflation and
rising labour and raw materials costs.
Wang is seen as a frontrunner for promotion to the elite nine-member Politburo
Standing Committee with the current generation of leaders, including President Hu Jintao
and Premier Wen Jiabao, due to step down
next year.
A main obstacle to China’s economic
reforms comes from within the government
itself, Wang said, playing up his hands-off
governance model ahead of that leadership
transition. Wang’s less-is-more governing philosophy is a key element of what some analysts have called the “Guangdong model” for
China’s future development, which contrasts
with the more state-driven model championed by his chief political rival, Chongqing’s
Bo. Some speculate Inner Mongolia’s Hu, one
of China’s youngest top politicians, is a candidate for the wider Politburo. Hu deflected any
questions on his possible rise, and instead
settled on an issue that concerned him most:
tackling poverty.
While coal-rich Inner Mongolia has
boomed in recent years on the back of
China’s bounding economy, income inequality has also surged, fueling widespread public
discontent there, as well as in much of the
rest of the country. “Our per capita GDP will
likely rise to more than $10,000 this year or
next. How can it be justified then that we will
still have a large population of poor people?
We hope to resolve this within five or 10
years.” — Reuters

MANILA: Lawyers began their defence in the corruption trial of the Philippines’ top judge yesterday, a
case which President Benigno Aquino sees as key to
fighting graft and attracting investors. Supreme
Court Chief Justice Renato Corona has vowed to
keep his job in a court action which could weaken
Aquino if it does not produce a conviction.
Corona, appointed by Aquino’s predecessor
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2010, is charged with
showing bias in favour of Arroyo, and other corrupt
practices. Sixteen votes from the 24-member Senate
of elected lawmakers who are sitting as judges are
needed to remove Corona from office. Aquino can
count on 14 votes so far.
“If Corona is found not guilty, it will be a poor
reflection on Aquino’s leadership and he will become
vulnerable to attacks,” said Benito Lim, political science professor at Ateneo de Manila University.
Aquino will risk losing popularity if he is seen to be
far tougher on Arroyo appointees than on his own
picks, said Pacific Strategies and Assessments, a security consultancy firm.
“If President Aquino continues this selective
approach to fighting corruption, he jeopardises legitimate prosecution of major Arroyo administration
wrongdoing and being labelled by a growing percentage of the Philippines populace as simply vindictive,” it said in a recent report.
Aquino has remained immensely popular with
ratings over 70 percent nearly two years after a landslide election victory. His popularity has helped draw
investor interest to the Philippines Its stock market,
the best performer in Asia last year, is up nearly 13
percent this year as foreign inflows into stocks rose
more than threefold in the first six weeks of 2012 to
$351 million, overtaking net buying for all of 2009.
Still, Aquino’s government continues to grapple
with graft, a perennial problem in the Philippines.
Were Corona to be forced out, it would give Aquino a
stronger hand in his efforts to attract investors by
being able to claim the judicial system has been
purged of corruption. “It would help change public
perception of the credibility of our courts,” said Earl
Parreno, an analyst with think-tank the Institute for
Political and Electoral Reforms.
“A more credible court means less flip-flopping in
decisions affecting businesses.” Aquino’s spokeswoman, Abigail Valte, told reporters the Aquino
camp is confident the senators will find Corona
guilty, and he will be removed from his job.
Meanwhile, gunmen have shot and seriously

wounded a reporter who is assigned to cover the
Philippine president, bringing the urgency of concerns over violent attacks on journalists to Manila’s
seat of power. President Benigno Aquino III, fellow
journalists and media watchdogs Monday strongly
condemned the attack on The Daily Tribune reporter
Fernan Angeles, who was beaten and shot six times
with a pistol by unidentified men near his home in
suburban Pasig city in metropolitan Manila.
Pasig police chief Senior Supt. Jessie Cardona
said Angeles, 41, was attacked when he left his
home to go to a nearby store to buy credits for his
mobile phone Sunday night. He was being treated
under guard in a hospital’s intensive care unit yesterday.
Police were trying to hunt down possible suspects and determine the motive of the attack. His
wife, Gemma Angeles, said her husband told her
that his attackers were linked to a drug syndicate,

MANILA: Protesters light candles and display placards during a rally commemorating the 1st anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck
northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, which killed more than 19,000 and triggered the Fukushima nuclear crisis, at the Japanese Embassy in Pasay south of
Manila, Philippines yesterday. — AP

Australian faces death
on Malaysia drug charges
KUALA LUMPUR: An Australian
man has been charged with drug
trafficking in Malaysia, which carries a mandatory death penalty,
his lawyer said yesterday, adding
the accused claimed he was mistreated in custody.
Dominic Jude Christopher Bird,
32, was charged with drug trafficking in a court on Friday, attorney
Tania Scivetti said. Scivetti said she
was told of the charge by the
Australian High Commission,
which had been informed by
Malaysian authorities, and complained that neither she nor
another of Bird’s lawyers were

present for the hearing. She said
she had no fur ther details but
added she and her colleague were
to meet with Bird today. Kuala
Lumpur court officials have been
unable to confirm the charge to
AFP. The truck driver from Perth in
Western Australia was arrested
March 1 in Kuala Lumpur, the capital, in possession of 225 grammes
(7.9 ounces) of methamphetamine.
Police have said he was arrested
along with another accomplice,
and that three other people were
subsequently detained in relation
to the case. Drug trafficking carries

“Remember Korean refugees.”
Japan welcomed the report and urged
North Korea to find a solution to “the issue
of abduction of Japanese nationals”. Tokyo,
a former coloniser of the Korean Peninsula,
and Pyongyang have no formal diplomatic
relations and their relations are often
strained, even hostile.
France said “serious and massive violations of human rights” had taken place in
North Korea and expressed “concern at the
deteriorating human rights situation noted
in the UN expert’s report including sending
many people to prison for political reasons”.
The EU and the United States noted
concern about the report while Cuba,
Zimbabwe and Syria said it was a Western
attempt to undermine North Korea. The
report said the human rights and humanitarian situation in North Korea has deteriorated in recent months, while adding that
the leadership transition following Kim
Jong-Il’s death in December was an opportunity for reform.
“The current transition may be a window of opportunity for the country to
adopt a reform process and address all
questions and concerns in relation to
human rights,” said Darusman. Kim JongUn took over as leader of the North Korean
regime after his father Kim Jong-Il’s death
on December 17 from a heart attack at the
age of 69. —AFP

a mandator y death penalty by
hanging upon conviction in
Malaysia. Anyone found to be in
possession of at least 50 grammes
of methamphetamines is considered a trafficker.
Scivetti said during a meeting
with Bird last Thursday he told
them he was blindfolded and
slapped while in custody. An
Australian High Commission official who asked that her name not
be used said she could not comment on the specifics of the case
but said the high commission was
“concerned” that Bird’s lawyers
were not present.

“The high commission is concerned about repor ts that the
lawyers do not appear to have
been notified of the hearings,” the
official told AFP.
According to Malaysian government figures early last year, some
700 prisoners, mostly men, were
on death row. More than twothirds of those involved drug
offences. Since 1960 more than
440 people have been executed,
including two Australians whose
1986 hanging for heroin trafficking
made headlines as the first
Westerners executed under new
tougher anti-drug laws. —AFP

Minister’s husband
charged with graft

Scuffle after N Korea rejects
‘fabricated’ UN report
GENEVA: A scuffle broke out yesterday in
the UN Human Rights Council and a man
was detained by security after a North
Korean diplomat said a critical report by an
independent expert had been fabricated.
North Korea said it “roundly rejects this
useless interpretation” which it said was
“fabricated by hostile elements” and it
called on the council not to renew the
mandate of special rapporteur on human
rights Marzuki Darusman.
As North Korean delegate So Se Pyong
was leaving the hall a scuffle occurred and
a man was held by UN security officials
before being later released. The dispute
erupted when council members took note
of the report by Darusman, the UN special
rapporteur on human rights in North
Korea.
The report covers the period from
September 2011 to January 2012, when it
said the situation in North Korea “continued
to deteriorate.” After the report was presented, North Korea took the floor, followed by repesentatives of the European
Union and Japan.
As the Japanese representative was
about to finish his speech, the North
Korean diplomat stood up to leave and the
scuffle broke out. Some diplomats said
South Korean parliamentarians tried to
engage the North’s envoy. One of the men
who was stopped by UN security shouted,

which has a presence in their working-class community. He appeared to have been suspected of leaking
information about the syndicate’s operation to
authorities. The Daily Tribune is a Manila daily often
critical of government officials. Colleagues covering
the presidential palace demanded a thorough investigation. They said they were holding Aquino to his
promise to give “primacy to press freedom and protection of media practitioners in the country,” the
statement from the Malacanang Press Corps said.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said
police have been ordered to secure Angeles and his
family. The National Union of Journalists of the
Philippines says 150 journalists, mostly radio commentators, have been killed since 1986 in provinces
but rarely in Manila. The New York-based
Committee to Protect Journalists has ranked the
Philippines as the second-deadliest country for
journalists next to Iraq.— Agencies

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian prosecutors
charged a minister’s husband yesterday with
criminal breach of trust and embezzlement in a
case that threatens to tarnish the government
ahead of widely expected elections this year.
Mohamad Salleh Ismail, husband of Malaysia’s
Women, Families and Communities Minister
Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, is the chairman of a publicly funded cattle rearing project the political
opposition said was used to pay for expensive
overseas trips and luxury apartments.
Mohamad Salleh could not immediately be
reached for comment.
An official from the attorney general’s office
said Mohamad Salleh was charged with two
counts of criminal breach of trust as well as two
counts of misusing nearly 50 million ringgit
from the 250 million ringgit ($83.07 million)
project. The 64-year-old pleaded not guilty to
all counts.
The charges come a day after Shahrizat said
she would resign
as a minister on April 8. She will remain as
the head of the women’s wing of Malaysia’s ruling party, the United Malays National
Organisation. The ‘Cowgate’ scandal, as it has
been dubbed, could be potentially damaging
as the farmyard connection makes it easier for
poor rural Malays, who form the bedrock of
UMNO’s support, to relate to it than other
financial scandals.
Prime Minister Najib Razak in January froze

the assets of the National Feedlot Centre, which
was supposed to make Malaysia 40 percent
self-sufficient in beef production by 2010, and
instructed the anti-corruption commission to
investigate. Yet the slow pace of the investigations, denials of wrongdoing by Shahrizat’s
family and fresh accusations appearing almost
daily on the opposition-dominated news websites have threatened to overshadow Najib’s
reform pledges.
Najib’s approval ratings have risen to 69 percent in February from 59 percent in August
after the government handed out funds to lower income households this year.
The handouts come as Najib seeks to win
back support from voters in polls that must be
held by April 2013 but are likely to be called in
the first half of 2012 before a looming global
slowdown hits Malaysia.
Corruption and rising income and racial
inequalities saw voters abandon Najib’s
National Front coalition, which UMNO dominates, in favour of the opposition that made
historic gains in 2008.
While three government officials have faced
corruption charges in Najib’s campaign against
graft since he took power in 2009, Malaysia has
not done too well in Transparency
International’s corruption perceptions index.
The southeast Asian country was ranked 60th
out of the 182 nations in the index last year,
down four places from 2010. — Reuters

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

S Lanka to censor news alerts about military, police
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry yesterday
ordered news outlets to get prior approval before
sending mobile phone alerts about the military or
police, a move press freedom groups decried as
another step towards greater censorship.
In a letter hand-delivered to news outlets
including Reuters, Media Center for National
Security (MCNS) Director-General Lakshman
Hulugalle said the new order was effective immediately. “I have been instructed to inform you that
any news related to national security, security

forces, and the police should get prior approval
from the MCNS before dissemination,” Hulugalle
said in the letter, dated last Friday.
That was the same day local news outlets
reported a murder-suicide that left three soldiers
dead of gunshot wounds. It also came after reports
of a police officer’s arrest for soliciting a large bribe,
and a botched abduction attempt blamed on soldiers.
The MCNS comes under the defence ministry,
and handles the public affairs function for the mili-

tary and police. Contacted by Reuters, Hulugalle
denied there were any restrictions on what could
be reported. “But we want to know what’s going to
be disseminated before it is being disseminated,”
he said.
The new directive is the latest control imposed
on news and information websites. The government is increasingly intolerant of criticism, and Sri
Lanka has in recent years headed further down lists
measuring international press freedom rankings.
“This is the first step in going for wider censor-

ship,” said Sunil Jayasekara, the head of Sri Lanka’s
Free Media Movement. In November, the government required news websites to register with the
Media Ministry, a month after it blocked some sites
critical of the government.
The Indian Ocean island nation’s government
first blocked some websites linked to the Tamil
Tiger separatists during the final phase of a 25-year
civil war, arguing the ban was acceptable in a time
of war, but the bans have grown since the end of
the war in 2009. — Reuters

Merkel questions 2014 German
pullout in surprise Afghan trip
Urges to push forward reconciliation with Taleban
BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Merkel called into
question yesterday Germany’s planned pullout
from Afghanistan as she made a surprise trip to the
war-torn country a day after a US soldier massacred
16 civilians.
The point has not yet been reached where
Germany can say “we can pull out today,” Merkel
said as she visited troops stationed in Mazar-iSharif in the north of Afghanistan. “And therefore, I
can also not say that we will manage that by
2013/2014. The will is there, we want to do that
and we are working towards that,” she said, according to German news agency DPA.
NATO said in January it was committed to withdrawing its combat troops from Afghanistan by the
end of 2014. Tensions were running high in

Afghanistan as Merkel arrived following the rampage by the US soldier who killed 16 villagers
including women and children in their homes in
the Taleban heartland of Kandahar on Sunday.
In a telephone call to Afghan President Hamid
Karzai, Merkel vowed that everything would be
done to investigate what she called “the dreadful
act of the US soldier”. She expressed her personal
condolences and those of the German people to
Karzai for the outrage, DPA cited her spokesman
Steffen Seibert as saying.
Merkel also congratulated Karzai for progress
made in building up Afghan security forces while
he in turn expressed gratitude for Germany’s commitment to peace in the war-wracked country. She
also urged Kabul to push forward the political rec-

Avalanche in
Afghanistan kills 45
KUNAR: An avalanche engulfed houses and
cut off roads in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, killing at least 45 people, the latest victims in the country’s worst winter in 30
years. Heavy snow blanketed 13 houses and
blocked roads leading into a district of
Nuristan province, near the border with
Pakistan, preventing help from reaching
avalanche victims, deputy provincial governor Mohammad Nabi Ahmadi said.

An entire village in northern
Badakhshan province was covered by an
avalanche almost a week ago, killing at
least 50 people. Though avalanches are
common in the mountainous north and
east, the latest deaths are particularly
painful during a winter that has killed
dozens in the capital Kabul and created further food shortages in one of the world’s
poorest countries. — Reuters

DHAKA: Supporters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) attend a rally
organised by the BNP and allies in Dhaka yesterday. Thousands of Bangladeshi troops
patrolled the streets of Dhaka as opposition parties prepared for a mass protest calling
for the government to step down and hold elections. — AFP

Bangladesh opposition
holds mass rally in Dhaka
DHAKA: Thousands of Bangladeshi troops
patrolled the streets of Dhaka yesterday as
opposition parties prepared for a mass protest
calling for the government to step down and
hold elections.
Schools and shops were closed and roads
in the capital were empty ahead of the rally,
which has been planned for months by the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its
allies. Media reports said thousands of opposition activists were detained ahead of the
event, but police denied any organised crackdown. “These are regular arrests nothing to do
with the opposition grand rally,” deputy commissioner of Dhaka police Monirul Islam told
AFP. Islam said at least 15,000 policemen and
border guards were deployed in Dhaka to prevent violence.
Bus and ferry services to the city were also

suspended, making it hard for opposition supporters to travel from rural areas. BNP
spokesman Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told
AFP that at least 3,000 people had been
detained nationwide over the last four days.
“Police have been holding our officials and
supporters en masse,” Alamgir said. The
Prothom Alo newspaper said more than 2,800
had been held since Wednesday. Opposition
anger has been growing since the government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, last
year scrapped a neutral caretaker system for
overseeing elections.
Bangladesh politics have often erupted
into violence, with the last serious outbreak of
street fighting between rival party activists in
2006 when several people were killed. The
next national election is due to be held by early 2014. — AFP

onciliation process with armed groups like the
Taleban. Germany is the third biggest supplier of
troops to the 130,000-strong NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) after
the United States and Britain.
It had 4,900 soldiers in Afghanistan as of
February 1, but a further 500 are set to be withdrawn by 2013 before a complete pullout. Opinion
polls have shown that the German mission, the first
major Bundeswehr deployment outside of Europe
since World War II, has been consistently unpopular
in the country.
Sunday’s massacre added to roiling antiWestern sentiment in Afghanistan over the burning
of the Quran at a US base last month. Germany and
several other NATO member states pulled their
advisors from Afghan institutions after two members of the international force in Afghanistan were
shot dead in violence over the Quran incident.
The holy Quran burning ignited days of violent
anti-US protests in which some 40 people died,
plunging relations between foreign forces and
their Afghan allies to an all-time low.
Sunday’s killing spree came as the United States
and Afghanistan pursue difficult talks on securing a
strategic pact to govern their partnership once foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan, scheduled
for 2014. The proposed accord would likely cover
the legal status of any US troops remaining in
Afghanistan to help Kabul with intelligence, air
power and logistics in the fight against Taleban
insurgents.
In her call to Karzai, the chancellor said a draft
of the pact would be available this month. Merkel
last visited Afghanistan in December 2010, to meet
German soldiers just before Christmas. On that
occasion she described the fighting there for the
first time as “war”.
This is her fourth trip to Afghanistan since taking office in 2005 and was planned before Sunday’s
massacre. It was not announced in advance for
security reasons. Merkel also paid homage to
German soldiers killed in Afghanistan since NATOled troops first deployed to the country in 2002.
Fifty-two German soldiers have been killed, 34
of them through enemy action, according to the
military’s website. — AFP

Britain’s Hague
sued over Pakistan
drone attacks
LONDON: A British law firm said on Sunday it was to sue
Foreign Secretary William Hague on behalf of a Pakistani man
over claims that British intelligence was used to assist US
drone attacks. London-based Leigh Day and Co confirmed
they would issue formal proceedings at Britain’s High Court on
behalf of Noor Khan, whose father was killed by a US strike in
Pakistan. Lawyers will claim that civilian intelligence officers
who pass on intelligence to the US are not “lawful combatants”, therefore cannot claim immunity from criminal law and
could be liable as “secondary parties to murder”. They will also
argue that the immunity clause does not apply as Pakistan is
not currently involved in an “international armed conflict”.
“There is credible, unchallenged evidence that (Hague) is
operating a policy of passing intelligence to officials or agents
of the US government and that he considers such a policy to
be in ‘strict accordance’ with the law,” Richard Stein, head of
human rights at Leigh Day, said in a statement.
“If this is the case, the Secretary of State has misunderstood one or more of the principles of international law governing immunity for those involved in armed attacks on
behalf of a state.” Britain’s Foreign Office said it would not
comment on legal or intelligence matters.
Khan says his father, Malik Daud, was killed by a drone missile while at a council of elders meeting in northwest Pakistan.
Drone attacks have become a key feature of US President
Barack Obama’s fight against terrorism in Pakistan, but many
inhabitants are deeply unhappy about the civilian death toll
incurred in the raids.
Meanwhile, Pakistan yesterday invited Islamist militant
groups including the Taleban for peace talks and said banned
organisations would be delisted if they “closed down their militant wings”. Pakistan has banned more than 30 militant outfits, including Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan and
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the group blamed by New Delhi and
Washington for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
“If the proscribed organisations assure us that they have
closed down their militant wings and abandoned extremism,
then we would like to meet them in next few days,” Interior
Minister Rehman Malik told reporters. Pakistan has faced
heavy criticism for not doing more to clampdown on the
groups, many of which are allowed to operate freely under
new names, such as Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a UN blacklisted charity
considered a front for LeT.
Despite a relative decline in high-profile attacks, there has
been a recent surge in bombings in the northwest blamed on
the Taleban and their accomplices. “We have been contacted
by several banned organisations that want to sit and talk. If
they want to give up militancy we will talk to them as we are
revising the list of proscribed organisations,” Malik said. He did
not identify any group but said that the government had
“even offered the Taliban to give up militancy and join the federation”. According to an AFP tally, Islamist militants have
killed more than 4,900 people across Pakistan since government troops raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in July
2007. The military says more than 3,000 soldiers have died.
There were about 120 bomb attacks in Pakistan in 2011, up
from 96 in 2010, but fewer than the 203 in 2009, according to
an AFP tally. — AFP

NEW DELHI: Tibetan childredn born in-exile walk over an effigy representing Chinese
President Hu Jintao during a protest march marking the 53rd anniversary of the Tibetan
Women’s Uprising Day in New Delhi yesterday. — AFP

Tibetans ‘suffocated’
by Chinese influence
KATHMANDU: At a cafe near a Tibetan
refugee camp in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu,
Tsewang Dolma stirs her iced tea nervously
as she talks of her fears for the future of her
people. She worries she will be followed
home and arrested again, yet the 27-yearold is one of the few Tibetans in Nepal keen
to speak about what they see as an increasingly hardline approach by the government
to their community.
“It’s not easy because we have no freedom. We are refugees here. Things have
changed and people feel very suffocated,”
she said ahead of commemorations last
Saturday to mark the 1959 uprising against
Chinese rule in Tibet. For decades, Nepal has
been a safe haven for Tibetans fleeing China
but activists say their people’s peaceful existence is at threat because of Beijing’s growing influence over its Himalayan neighbour.
Campaigners believe the wave of
protests against Chinese rule that began in
Tibet in March 2008 and the resulting crackdown has transformed the attitude of
Nepal’s government. Arrests of activists in
Kathmandu have become frequent in recent
years and the periods of detention are getting longer, activists say.
In February, Nepal police arrested 13 students protesting in front of the United
Nations headquarters in Kathmandu, releasing them only after they had spent two
weeks in jail. “They were just taking part in a
human rights protest and they were arrested. Before, when people got arrested they
would be released on the same night,” said
Dolma, who has been detained twice in
recent months.
“We get information that they got orders
from China to be kept in detention for so
long.” Nepal-born Dolma, the president of
the Nepal chapter of the Tibetan Youth
Congress, said pre-emptive arrests and
large-scale police deployment in her community were contributing to fear and insecurity.
“They don’t allow any Tibetan to do anything freely,” she told AFP. “I don’t know what
really changed but it’s all Chinese influence.
It was bad but now it’s worse.” At Saturday’s
1959 commemorations, Kathmandu police
arrested 22 Tibetans for “suspicious activities” at demonstrations that were more mut-

ed than in previous years as hundreds of
officers looked on.
For three decades Nepal welcomed
Tibetans into the country after the uprising,
issuing them with refugee identity certificates, known as the “RC”. But the government has refused since 1998 to issue RCs to
Tibetans, including children born in Nepal to
refugee parents.
“I have a lot of friends who don’t have
RCs and they face so many problems. They
were born here but they don’t have citizenship,” said Dolma. “If they want to go abroad
for study, they can’t. And if you want to work
in a bank they require Nepali citizenship
documents.”
Analysts say while India has traditionally
been the influential player in Nepal, China is
making in-roads in a nation that is recovering after a decade-long civil war came to an
end in 2006.
Impoverished Nepal, home to 20,000
exiles from Tibet, appears keen to seek further Chinese aid. In January Chinese Premier
Wen Jiabao and his Nepalese counterpart
Baburam Bhattarai discussed investment
from Beijing for infrastructure projects that
could amount to billions of dollars. In return,
Nepal expressed support for Beijing’s “oneChina” policy which states that Tibet is an
integral part of the Chinese territory.
In the last few months rights groups
including the International Commission of
Jurists, Human Rights Watch and the
United Nations’ Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, have
voiced concerns over Nepal’s hard line on
its Tibetan community. And Tibetan groups
such as the US-based International
Campaign for Tibet say the change in attitude is increasingly apparent.
“The characterisation of peaceful Tibetan
community activities and demonstrations
as anti-Chinese clearly reflects China’s agenda in Nepal,” an ICT spokeswoman told AFP.
Chinese authorities declined to comment
but Nepal’s Home Ministry said its policy
was to arrest Tibetans for “agitation against
the Chinese government in sensitive locations inside Nepal”. “We have a policy for
not allowing any activities against our
friendly neighbour China,” said spokesman
Shankar Prasad Koirala. — AFP

PESHAWAR: Pakistani bomb disposal squad personnel are pictured with a defused explosive device which was found inside a car in Peshawar yesterday. The Bomb Disposal Squad
defused some 40kgs of explosives in an abandoned car parked in Peshawar. — AFP

Afghan outrage grows over GI’s brutal...
Continued from Page 1
Haji Agha Lalai, who hosted a large gathering of tribal
elders from Panjwayi district in his Kandahar home.
US President Barack Obama telephoned Afghan
President Hamid Karzai to promise a speedy investigation
into the “shocking” killings, and an American soldier is in
military detention over the shootings. The detained soldier
was described by US oﬃcials as a staﬀ sergeant who was
married with three children. He had served three Iraq tours
but was on his ﬁrst Afghan deployment. Sunday’s massacre
poses an acute test of the US-Afghan alliance, as the two
countries pursue diﬃcult talks on securing a strategic pact
to govern their partnership once foreign combat troops
leave Afghanistan in 2014. Any deal would address the legal
status of US troops who may remain to help prevent the
country falling back into the hands of the Taleban, who
were toppled in 2001 for sheltering Al-Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden.
“The killings in Kandahar cast a long shadow over negotiations on a strategic partnership deal and certainly give
greater leverage to Karzai,” Candace Rondeaux of the
International Crisis Group told AFP. “The question of immunity for US troops remaining in the country after the end of
combat operations in 2014 will come to the forefront.”
Karzai spoke by telephone with the families of those
killed, including Raﬁhullah, a 15-year-old boy wounded in
the leg who told the president the soldier had torn the

dresses of the women in the house and insulted them. “He
came to my uncle’s home, he was running after women, he
was tearing their dresses, insulting them,” Raﬁhullah said on
an audiotape of the conversation heard by AFP. “He killed
my uncle and killed our servant and killed my grandma, he
shot dead my uncle’s son, his daughter,” the boy said.
The Taleban wasted no time in trying to capitalise on
the killings, sending ﬁghters to mosques in Kandahar’s
Panjwayi district as the funerals of the victims of the shootings took place, urging villagers to rise up. “They were
telling the people: ‘The invading inﬁdel Americans come to
your homes, insult your women and kill your children, what
are you waiting for? You should come out and demonstrate’,” local resident Abdul Khaliq told AFP. Kandahar is a
stronghold of the Taleban ﬁghting to oust Karzai’s government, which is supported by some 130,000 US-led NATO
troops.
Afghan resentment of US forces was also provoked in
January by a video posted online showing US Marines urinating on the bloodied corpses of slain Afghan insurgents an incident condemned by the Pentagon. In November,
the ringleader of a rogue American “kill team” charged with
murder for shooting civilians for sport was found guilty
and sentenced to life in prison by a military panel. But the
vast majority of civilian deaths in the Afghan war are attributed to the Taleban. A total of 3,021 civilians died in the
war last year, according to a UN report, which blamed 77
percent of the deaths on the militia. — AFP

Oil price volatility in focus at energy meet
Continued from Page 1
increase production due to a looming cut in Iranian
oil exports. “We do not expect any special request to
increase production,” Farouk Al-Zanki, the chief executive oﬃcer of state -owned Kuwait Petroleum
Corporation, told reports at the forum. He said the state
was pumping around three million barrels per day and
was working on building its spare capacity. “If there is
spare capacity and there is demand for it, you will hear
about it,” he added.
Energy-hungry Japan and South Korea earlier this
year held energy talks with Gulf states aimed to secure
alternative oil resources in case Iran sanctions hit their
imports. Last Tuesday EU foreign aﬀairs chief Catherine
Ashton said on behalf of Britain, China, France, Russia,
the United States and Germany that they were ready to
hold talks with Iran. Last week, the OPEC oil cartel
trimmed its 2012 global oil demand growth forecast for
the second time in two months because of worries
about developed countries’ economies and higher
crude prices.
The Energy Minister of the United Arab Emirates,
Mohammad bin Dhaen Al-Hamli, acknowledged that oil
prices were high and blamed it on uncertainties in the
Middle East. “The prices are on the high side, but really
prices are reacting to what is happening in the Middle

East,” he told reporters on the ﬁrst day of the forum.
Angola’s oil minister also blamed geopolitical concerns
for the surge in oil prices, but he said he did not expect
crude prices to rocket to the 2008 levels of around $150
per barrel. “Oil prices are rising because of geopolitics...
but are unlikely to rise to the levels seen in 2008,” said
Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos on the sidelines of
the forum, according to Dow Jones newswire. “I think
$110-115 is a good price range,” he added.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) blamed a weak growth in the OECD economies,
mainly the situation in Europe, in addition to high oil
prices, for the expected ease in demand. It also pointed
to tensions between Iran and the West and speculation
about Israeli military action against Tehran. The 12member cartel, which accounts for about 30 percent of
global crude oil output, now expects daily demand this
year of 88.63 million barrels per day, down from its forecast a month ago of 88.76 million bpd, it said in its
March monthly report.
This still represents growth compared to 2011, when
demand was 87.77 million bpd, according to OPEC ﬁgures that were revised slightly downwards. On March 1,
West Texas Intermediate crude hit $110.5 per barrel, the
highest since May 2011, while Brent North Sea crude
rocketed to $128.4 a barrel, the highest since July 2009.
— AFP

Civilians massacred in Homs, hundreds flee
Continued from Page 1
misleading the international
community or manipulating the
Security Council.”
The grisly murders in Homs came
after UN-Arab League peace envoy
Koﬁ Annan warned on Sunday that
the situation in Syria had reached a
“dangerous” level, as he failed to
conclude a deal to end violence
rocking the country during a weekend mission to Damascus. “There
are grave and appalling reports of
atrocities and abuses (in Syria),”
Annan told reporters in Ankara
before meeting Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan. “Killings of
civilians must end now. The world
must send a clear and united message that this is simply unacceptable.”
Hadi Abdallah, a Syrian activist in
Homs, told AFP the bodies of 26
children and 21 women, some with
their throats slit and others bearing
stab wounds, were found after a
“massacre” in the Karm El-Zaytoun
and Al-Adawiyeh neighbourhoods
of the besieged central city. “Some
of the children had been hit with
blunt objects on their heads, one little girl was mutilated and some
women were raped before being
killed,” he said. “We received the
bodies in two batches ... we tried to
go to see if there were any survivors
but they were all dead,” said a medical worker, who called himself
Yazan. “I saw two females who were
raped, one was around 12 or 13
years old. She was covered in blood
and her underclothes were oﬀ. One
of the women was strangled; she
had bruises on her neck. Some of
the bodies I saw, especially the children, had their throats slit.”
Activists posted videos online
that showed graphic images of

charred bodies and children with
mutilated and bloodied faces.
Syrian state television also aired
gruesome footage showing homes
with white walls splattered with
blood, bodies of women and children piled on top of each other, and
several men, with bullet wounds to
the head, lying facing down in a disused building, their hands tied
behind their backs.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the
Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights, said news of the killings in
Homs had prompted hundreds of
families to ﬂee the city for fear of a
new massacre. Syrian state TV said
the weekend killings were a clear
ploy by “armed terrorist gangs” to
grab the spotlight ahead of yesterday’s meeting of foreign ministers
from key UN Security Council
nations in New York. “We are used to
them committing more crimes
before meetings of the UN Security
Council,” it said, while denouncing
“hysteria” in the media over events
in Syria. Information Minister Adnan
Mahmoud told AFP: “Terrorist gangs
carried out the most horrible massacre in the Karm El-Zaytoun neighbourhood of Homs... in order to
incite international reaction against
Syria.” Activists contacted in Homs
accused pro-Assad “shabbiha” militiamen of carrying out the killings.
In New York, Britain’s Hague
called for the Security Council to
pass a resolution which calls for “an
immediate end to the brutal repression and violations of human rights”
and support for Annan’s peace mission. France’s Juppe said: “It is unacceptable that our council be
stopped from assuming its responsibilities. After months of blocking, I
appeal to China and Russia to hear
the voices of the Arabs and the
world conscience and join us.” In his

address, Lavrov renewed Moscow’s
warnings about the perils of any
drive for regime change. Without
referring speciﬁcally to Western
countries, Lavrov said that unilateral
sanctions, moves for “regime
change” and encouraging the Syrian
opposition were “risky recipes of
geopolitical engineering which can
only result in a spread of the conﬂict.”
According to the Britain-based
Syrian Observatory, more than
8,500 people have been killed in
Syria since the outbreak of the
revolt against President Bashar AlAssad’s regime a year ago. Activists
said the army launched a new
assault yesterday in the restive
northwestern province of Idlib and
the city of the same name, where
they reported residents suﬀering
“indescribable” humanitarian conditions. “The army bombarded the
Dbeit district in Idlib city and
pounded the Ath-Thawra neighbourhood, where several buildings
collapsed,” an anti-regime activist in
the city told AFP via Skype, giving
his name only as Yasser. “ The
humanitarian situation is indescribable, the residents are totally without water and electricity, and communications have been cut oﬀ,” he
added.
While the army controls some
parts of the city that were wrested
from the rebels in an assault on
Saturday, others remain in the
hands of the insurgents. Annan on
his ﬁrst mission to Syria to attempt
to secure a halt to the violence,
acknowledged in Damascus on
Sunday that ending the violence
would be “tough” but said he
remained optimistic. He added,
however: “The situation is so bad
and so dangerous that all of us cannot aﬀord to fail.” — Agencies

Israel-Gaza bloodshed rages into fourth day
Continued from Page 1
ceaseﬁre. But Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed faction
behind most of the rocket ﬁre, said any truce should include
an undertaking by Israel “to end assassinations”.
The exchanges began after two chiefs of the Popular
Resistance Committees (PRC) faction, accused by Israel of
planning to attack it through Egypt’s Sinai desert, were killed
in an Israeli strike on Friday. Israel signalled that it would not
halt what it calls “preventive targeting” operations aimed at
stopping rocket ﬁre and cross-border attacks. Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu told members of his Likud party in
Parliament: “The Israeli army will continue to attack the terrorists in Gaza with strength and determination.” He also said the
Israeli military was prepared to widen its operations and continue them for as long as necessary.
That prospect would revive memories of the 2008-2009
Gaza war in which some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis
were killed. But Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai told Army
Radio: “Israel is not keen to see an escalation, Israel is not keen
to hurt innocents, Israel is absolutely opposed to this. For now,
it is on this kind of scale. But if it will prove protracted, then
without a doubt there will be a powerful, painful blow so that
this will not continue.”
The Palestinian attacks against Israel disrupted normal life
in the south and forced many schools to close on Sunday and
yesterday. Alerts to residents of southern towns to take shelter
from incoming rockets punctuated radio programs. Islamic
Jihad and the PRC, armed groups largely independent of
Islamist Hamas, have said they ﬁred most of the scores of rock-

ets launched at Israel since Friday. Some experts in Gaza
believe Hamas had provided some smaller groups with
ammunition but avoided direct participation out of concern
Israel would step up its attacks in the enclave. Hamas is also
eager to avoid any long-term military campaign as it struggles
to adapt to political upheaval in Arab countries such as Egypt,
which shares a border with Gaza, and in Syria, where the
group has abandoned its traditional headquarters.
Washington - Israel’s principle ally - and the United Nations
expressed concern at the violence. “Once again civilians are
paying a terrible price,” Ban told the UN Security Council. He
denounced rocket attacks on Israel as “unacceptable” and
urged Israel to “exercise maximum restraint”. In her remarks to
the council, Clinton condemned the rocket ﬁre at Israel and
urged both sides to restore calm. But she did not speciﬁcally
mention the Israeli air strikes nor the dozens of Palestinian
casualties.
France and Russia also both appealed for an end to the
ﬁghting and stressed the need to avoid civilian suﬀering. Arab
League Secretary-General Nabil al-Araby issued a statement
in Cairo condemning the Israeli raids and urged the Security
Council to step in and “stop the aggression”. Gaza, home to 1.7
million people, was under Israeli occupation from 1967 until
2005 and remains under blockade. Hamas has controlled
Gaza since 2007 and is ﬁghting for an independent
Palestinian state but has shunned the stalled peace process
supervised by international powers and refuses to recognise
the Jewish state. Islamic Jihad is less inﬂuential than Hamas
but shares the same ideology, which advocates Israel’s ultimate destruction. — Reuters

Israel plans for Iran go back years
Continued from Page 1
Israeli leaders, however, argue
that time is quickly running out.
They have grown increasingly vocal
in their calls for tough concerted
international action against Iran
while stressing they are prepared to
act alone if necessary. Israeli
defense oﬃcials believe Iran is capable of producing highly enriched
weapons-grade uranium within six
months. After that, it would require
another year or two to develop a
means of delivering a nuclear
bomb, they predict.
But Israel believes the window to
act will close much sooner than
that. Oﬃcials say in the coming
months Iran will have moved
enough of its nuclear facilities
underground and out of reach of
conventional airpower, and that the
world will be powerless to stop it.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak calls
this the “zone of immunity”. Defense
oﬃcials acknowledge that plans to
go after Iran have been in the works
for years, with the air force expected
to take the lead in what would be
an extremely complicated operation. The oﬃcials spoke on condition of anonymity because they
were discussing sensitive military
deliberations.
Israel has a total of 300 warplanes, but about 100 frontline
planes would participate in the mission, oﬃcials suggest. They would
include attack aircraft as well as others used to escort, target enemy
warplanes and anti-aircraft batteries
and provide support like communications and search and rescue. The
most powerful is the squadron of 24
F15i warplanes, American-made aircraft capable of carrying heavy payloads that could include 2,200 kg,
laser-guided GBU-28 bombs purchased from the US. These “bunkerbusting” bombs would be at the
heart of any operation.
In addition, Israel has four
squadrons, or about 100, F-16i warplanes. These planes are more nimble in the air, capable of attacking
ground targets but also ideal for
escorting the heavier attacking aircraft. The air force also has developed long-range unmanned drones
that can provide intelligence, communications and other support in
any mission. Experts believe that
some of the Israeli warplanes, even
F16s with upgraded fuel tanks,
could not make the round trip without refueling in ﬂight - depending
on the route as well as the weight of
their payload. Israel, which has eight
tanker planes, can refuel an airplane
in ﬂight in a matter of minutes,
though it’s unclear where the task
would take place since much of the
airspace in the region is hostile.
There is precedent: Israeli warplanes destroyed an unﬁnished Iraqi
nuclear reactor in 1981, and did the
same thing to a nascent reactor in
Syria in 2007. But an operation in

Iran would be far more diﬃcult complicated by distance, stronger
Iranian defenses and the Iranian
strategy of scattering its nuclear
installations in underground locations. The Israeli air force has carried
out a series of long-distance training runs that could serve as models
for striking Iran. In 2008, 100 jets
participated in a drill in Greece. The
air force has carried out similar drills
more recently with both Greece and
Italy, oﬃcials say.
Probable targets in Iran, including the Natanz and Fordo enrichment facilities south of Tehran, lie
some 1,600 km from Israel. Shaﬁr,
the former air force oﬃcer, said
planners would need to choose
among three likely ﬂight paths, all
of which carry grave risks. The shortest, most direct ﬂight would be to
cross over neighboring Jordan and
through Iraq. Neither country has
the capability to stop an Israeli warplanes from crossing through its airspace. But this would deeply embarrass them.
Such an operation would raise
the likelihood of a diplomatic spat
with Jordan, Israel’s closest ally in
the Arab world, and potentially
expose Jordan to Iranian retaliation.
Jordanian oﬃcials refused to comment on how the government
would react if Israel uses its airspace. A second route would be to
ﬂy south and through Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis have no relations with
Israel, and while they feel deeply
threatened by a nuclear Iran, any
signs of cooperation with the
Jewish state would unleash ﬁerce
criticism throughout the Arab
world. The Saudis would also be an
easy target for an Iranian counterstrike.
The last possibility would be
crossing through Turkey, as Israel
illicitly did in the 2007 airstrike in
Syria. But Turkey is believed to have
upgraded its radar systems since
then, and Israel’s relations with
Turkey, once a close ally, have deteriorated. A Turkish oﬃcial said it was
“out of the question” for Israel to use
Turkish airspace. He said the jets
would be “brought down” if Israel
attempted to use the airspace without permission. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorized to comment publicly
on the matter. Once Israeli planes
reach Iran, they would come under
ﬁre from Iranian air-defense systems
and warplanes. Israeli oﬃcials say
they take these threats seriously,
but believe Israel’s superior ﬁrepower and radar-jamming technology
would allow them to perform the
mission.
Iran’s air attack capabilities
depend heavily on domestically
modiﬁed versions of long-outdated
warplanes, including former Soviet
MiGs and American F14A Tomcats
from the 1970s. Iran is also believed
to possess retooled versions of
Russia’s state-of-the-art S-300 anti-

aircraft missiles, as well as advanced
Chinese radar systems. Russia has
held up an oﬃcial sale of S-300
defenses for ﬁve years, citing technical glitches. Outside experts say
Iranian capabilities, particularly
homegrown technologies, are limited.
The biggest challenge to Israel
may be the limits of its ﬁrepower.
Iran’s main uranium-enrichment
facility at Natanz is believed to be
about six meters underground and
protected by two concrete walls.
This would stretch the capabilities
of Israel’s arsenal of bunker busters
and explains why the Israelis would
much prefer that the US take the
lead in an operation. The U.S. has
forces near Iran in the Gulf and possesses bunker busters even more
powerful than Israel’s.
Iran has also been shifting its
enrichment operations to the far
more fortiﬁed Fordo site, dug 90 m
into a mountain south of Tehran.
Further complicating the task, Israeli
oﬃcials say Iran uses special
Russian-made nets that conceal the
facilities and distort the detection of
Western spycraft. Iran has threatened to retaliate and has developed
sophisticated Shahab missiles capable of striking the Jewish state. It
also could encourage its local proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and
Hamas in the Gaza Strip, to unleash
their arsenals of tens of thousands of
rockets. Hezbollah has not said what
it would do, while Hamas has signaled it does not want to get
dragged into an Israel-Iran war.
Nonetheless, Israel has developed
a series of air-defense systems for
the various threats. It has begun
testing the third generation of its
Arrow system, designed to shoot
down incoming missiles from more
distant origins like Iran. It also has
deployed its “Iron Dome” rocket
defense system, which has successfully shot down about 90 percent of
incoming rockets from Gaza in a
new round of ﬁghting in recent days.
Many experts believe Iran would
retaliate against American targets in
the Gulf, as well as US allies like
Saudi Arabia for their perceived support of an Israeli strike. Any unilateral strike would likely also draw ﬁerce
international criticism. That means
an Israeli operation would have to
be short-lived, perhaps a onetime
attack, and not a sustained air campaign. Scott Johnson, an analyst at
the IHF Jane’s military research ﬁrm,
said that given these limitations,
Israel would at best set back, but not
neutralize, the Iranian program.
Success, he added, would depend
on the eﬀectiveness of the bunker
busters. Danny Yatom, a former
director of Israel’s Mossad spy
agency, said even if Israel cannot
destroy Iran’s nuclear program altogether, a serious disruption would
be enough. “This might delay the
appearance of the bomb by many
years,” he said. — AP

A year on, civil war
looms over Syria
By Ritu Daou
resident Bashar Al-Assad’s rule in Syria is bound to
end, but the country risks partition or civil war after a
year of mass protests and deadly repression, analysts
say. “If you asked us one year ago if Bashar Al-Assad could
be on his way out, many people would have said no way.
Today, I believe the regime is losing, it is running out of
time,” said Salman Shaikh of the Brookings Institute. “A year
on, even though this is proving to be a very tough nut to
crack, it still shows that the uprising is alive and well and
will likely lead to the end of this regime,” said the Dohabased analyst.
The uprising that has shaken one of the Middle East’s
most autocratic regimes erupted on March 15, 2011, when
a group of youths no older than 14 scrawled graffiti on the
walls of their school in the southern Daraa province. “The
people demand the fall of the regime,” they daubed on the
walls, echoing protesters in Tunisia and Egypt, where mass
demonstrations drove from power veteran strongmen
despised by their people.
The Syrian authorities responded with brutality, arresting the youths and throwing them in jail, triggering
protests by relatives which were repressed with deadly
force. At the same time two small protests were held in the
iconic Damascus Hamidiyeh and Marja markets urging the
release of political prisoners. More protests then erupted
across Syria, with people emboldened after decades of fear
under the Assad family’s iron-fisted rule flooding onto the
streets demanding change.
Assad responded by promising a string of reforms,
including an end to decades of emergency rule, a law
allowing the creation of political parties and a new constitution stripping his Baath Party of its monopoly. But the
violent crackdown by regime forces against demonstrations and the mounting death toll stripped Assad’s reform
pledges of any credibility. “The Syrian revolution is different
from the other Arab Spring movements due to the huge
sacrifices made by the people and the unprecedented
repression” of the regime, said university professor Khattar
Abu Diab. “The regime is authoritarian to the bone and I
think that its methods are even worse than Stalin’s repression,” said Abu Diab, who teaches international relations at
Paris-Sud University.
At least 8,500 people have been killed in the Syrian
crackdown on dissent since last March, according to the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group. In
recent weeks the regime has stepped up its military
assaults, targeting the central province of Homs and the
northwestern province of Idlib in particular, in a bid to
crush rebel fighters with the Free Syrian Army. “The degree
of repression forced people to defend themselves... The
regime did everything in its power to militarise a protest
movement which had sprung up from the grassroots and
was peaceful in nature,” said Abu Diab.
Over the months the popular slogan “God, Syria,
Freedom”, chanted mantra-like by tens of thousands of
demonstrators, was replaced by another slogan resounding at the rallies: “Yes to arming the Free Syrian Army.” Some
Arab countries like oil kingpin Saudi Arabia have also called
for the arming of the heavily-outgunned rebels who are
battling the regime forces in a number of flashpoint areas.
But world powers including the United States have warned
of the dangerous consequences of foreign intervention.
And despite a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, world powers remain deeply divided over how to
solve the deadly crisis, with Russia and China twice wielding their veto power at the UN Security Council on resolutions damning the Syrian regime. “There is a deadlock
inside Syria and around it due to the cold war” between
Moscow and the West, said Abu Diab. He argues that the
revolution in Syria is different from those that rocked
Tunisia and Egypt, “where the armed forces were influenced by the West” and therefore rallied around the people. And in Libya, where rebels ended the 42-year rule of
Muammar Gaddafi, “oil was the bait that attracted (NATO)
intervention”. “In Syria there is no such attraction,” he added.
Analysts also warn about the risk of civil war in Syria
and partition of the country between the majority Sunnis
and the minority Alawite community of the Assad dynasty
who now hold the reins of power. “Arming the opposition
will only fuel further a sectarian civil conflict because the
majority of Alawites are increasingly becoming more and
more fearful for their fate and more entrenched,” said
Shaikh. This situation “may lead to massacres in the future”,
said the Brookings Institute expert. Abu Diab agrees, warning against the emergence of an Alawite state that could
link forces with Hezbollah, the Shiite militants in
Lebanon.—AFP

P

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Shootings complicate Afghanistan mission
By Anne Flaherty
he decade-long war in Afghanistan has spiraled into a
series of US missteps and violent outbreaks that have
left few ardent political supporters. After NATO detained
a US soldier Sunday for allegedly killing sleeping Afghan villagers, Republicans and Democrats alike pointed to the stress
on troops after years of fighting and reiterated calls to leave
by the end of 2014 as promised, if not sooner. Afghanistan,
once the must-fight war for America, is becoming a public
relations headache for the nation’s leaders, especially for
President Barack Obama.
And there’s recognition of that problem on both sides. “It’s
just not a good situation,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid. “Our troops are under such tremendous pressure in
Afghanistan. It’s a war like no other war we’ve been involved
in. ... We’re moving out, as the president said. I think it’s the
right thing to do.” Many Republicans -who as a party fought
against a quick exodus in Iraq and criticized Obama’s 2008
presidential campaign promise to end the war - are now
reluctant to embrace a continued commitment in
Afghanistan.
In the wake of the shootings and the recent burning of
Muslim holy books at a US military base, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said Monday, “Given all of
these additional problems, we have to either make a decision
to make a full commitment, which this president has not
done, or we have to decide to get out and probably get out
sooner” than 2014. Santorum spoke on NBC’s “Today” show.
“There’s something profoundly wrong with the way we’re
approaching the whole region, and I think it’s going to get
substantially worse, not better,” said Republican presidential
hopeful Newt Gingrich. “I think that we’re risking the lives of
young men and women in a mission that may, frankly, not be
doable.” American voters appear frustrated as well. In results
from a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday, 55

T

percent of respondents said they think most Afghans oppose
what the United States is trying to do there. And 60 percent
said the war in Afghanistan has been “not worth fighting”.
The latest incident in Afghanistan was disturbing: At 3 am
Sunday, an American staff sergeant allegedly wandered 500
m from a special operations base in the southern Kandahar
province and began shooting villagers as they slept. As many
as 16 Afghans were killed, including nine children, before the
shooter apparently returned to base and turned himself in.
One eyewitness described the body of a young boy, apparently wearing red pajamas, lying lifeless in the back of a
minibus. That and other searing images, including an AP photographer’s confirmation of burned bodies at the scene, easily eclipsed Friday’s upbeat announcement that the US and
Afghanistan had agreed on the transfer of Afghan detainees
to Afghan control.
Obama and top US officials quickly condemned the attack
and offered their condolences to families of the victims.
Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called Afghan
President Hamid Karzai, both vowing to hold any perpetrators accountable. Their statements stopped short of a full
apology but appeared to want to ward off any retaliatory
attacks, like those seen recently after US officials acknowledged the burning of Muslim holy books at an airbase in
Afghanistan. Six US service members were killed in attacks
immediately following that revelation, including two
American officers who were assassinated while working
inside a heavily protected Afghan ministry.
“This deeply appalling incident in no way represents the
values of (US and coalition troops) or the abiding respect we
feel for the Afghan people,” Gen John Allen, the top US commander in Afghanistan, said Sunday. “Nor does it impugn or
diminish the spirit of cooperation and partnership we have
worked so hard to foster with the Afghan National Security
Forces.” But the damage is probably inevitable. Pulling no
punches, Karzai called the shooting an “assassination” and “an

intentional killing of innocent civilians” that could not be forgiven. For their part, US officials pointedly noted that the suspect would be tried under US law, a fine point perhaps made
to head off any demands by Karzai that Afghanistan be given
custody of the soldier. The tension could be enough to raise a
key question among Obama’s top advisers as they stare down
this fall’s bid for re-election: Should Obama press NATO to
speed up its scheduled transfer of security responsibility to
the Afghan government at the end of 2014? Panetta has
already said he hopes Afghans will assume the lead combat
role across the country by mid-2013, with US and other NATO
troops remaining in smaller numbers to perform numerous
support missions. US and Afghan officials have said they want
a strategic partnership agreement signed by the time a NATO
summit convenes in Chicago in May.
Further complicating the matter is the limited patience
many of Obama’s top supporters have for Karzai. “The great
weakness in Afghanistan is Karzai,” said Sen Chuck Schumer.
“Nobody seems to trust him or like him. And the idea of turning it over to the Afghan forces is the right way to go, but
that’s a major question mark: Karzai.” Sen. John McCain, the
top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee,
pleaded for public patience on the war. “I understand the
frustration, and I understand the anger and the sorrow,”
McCain said. “I also understand and we should not forget that
the attacks on the United States of America on 9/11 originated in Afghanistan. And if Afghanistan dissolves into a situation where the Taleban were able to take over a chaotic situation, it could easily return to an Al-Qaeda base for attacks on
the United States of America.”
Sen Lindsay Graham said a primary problem is leaving the
country vulnerable and signaling to Iran that the US wasn’t
committed to the region. “We can win this thing. We can get
it right,” Graham said. Reid spoke on CNN’s “State of the
Union.” Graham and Schumer spoke on ABC News “This
Week.” McCain spoke on “Fox News Sunday”. — AP

Down but not out, sick Chavez seeks reelection
By Mica Rosenberg and Diego Ore
ranes tower over new apartment blocks
in Venezuela’s capital where President
Hugo Chavez’s government plans to
house 20,000 poor families as part of a populist pre-election spending push. Though finished, the buildings stand empty - waiting
for the usual fanfare inauguration of such
projects by Chavez himself. The socialist
leader is in Cuba convalescing after a third
cancer surgery, so the question is when - or
even if - Chavez will be strong enough to cut
the ribbon. The charismatic Chavez has been
in campaign mode for most of his 13-year
rule, and his signature style of personally
meeting the beneficiaries of his welfare programs has helped him win reelection and
extend his powers in the South American
nation.
Now facing potentially debilitating radiation treatment or after a second malignant
tumor was removed from his pelvis, the
once-inexhaustible Chavez, 57, is being
forced to slow down just as he goes into
what could be his toughest election yet.
“Unfortunately you are not going to see that
much of me,” a reflective Chavez said from
Cuba, where he is recovering from surgery
late last month after a recurrence of the cancer that struck him in 2011. “I’m forced to
confront this new situation, to rethink my
personal agenda and take better care of
myself.” Chavez has denied rumors that his
cancer has spread but if his health worsens
and less-popular ministers are pushed into
the spotlight on his behalf, voters will wonder if a weakened Chavez can govern for
another six-year term. Nobody, though, is
writing off a man who has overcome so
much in the past - US opposition, massive
street protests, a strike that paralyzed the oil
industry and a coup that briefly toppled him
from power.
With savvy use of media and the internet,
and drawing on his unique emotional connection with the poor, Chavez still has a high
chance of triumphing yet again if he can stay
well enough. That might mean running a “virtual” campaign largely from Caracas and
making the most of any personal appearances he is able to make in slums and rural
areas. “He won’t be in physical shape to visit
every corner of the country,” said Glen

C

Martinez, who runs a pro-Chavez community
radio station in a hilly neighborhood spraypainted with murals of Mexican guerrilla
leader Subcomandante Marcos and of
Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader toppled and killed last year. “But it doesn’t matter, if he can’t come here, we will go to him,
wherever he does show up.”
The cancer saga appears to have tightened the bond with Chavez’s most militant
backers. One pollster said last month’s news
gave him a 5 percent popularity bump
among hard-core supporters. “Whoever
believes Chavez is destroyed doesn’t understand anything. Even now, at this difficult
moment, he has half the nation behind him,”
said another pollster, Luis Vicente Leon.
Unless Chavez’s health veers into full recovery or a fatal downturn, the key to the election will likely be how the roughly one-third
of undecided voters view a sick candidate.
Formal surveys and interviews on the
street show no clear trend yet, although in
past elections they have tended to back
Chavez. There are, however, universal worries
about instability and the lack
of a clear successor to
Chavez. “We have no
idea if tomorrow
Chavez will be okay
or have the same
strength,” said
B e a t r i z
Colmenares, 52,
describing herself
as a “thermometer ” for
her
Caracas apartment
building because
she mixes with both
Chavez and opposition supporters. “No
one trusts the people
who are behind him.
He just moves them
around like chess
pieces but they are
always the same,”
added Colmenares,
who rents phones for
a living.
Chavez’s personality-driven administration has prevent-

ed the cultivation of an obvious heir, with all
the senior figures around him lacking charisma and popularity on the street. Many
Venezuelans also tend to blame them, more
than Chavez, for rampant corruption, nepotism and inefficiency in services. Trying to
quash rumors of in-fighting, Chavez’s aides
are repeating a mantra that he remains at the
helm. “Not only are we sure that he will be
our candidate, but that he will win on
October 7,” said the head of Congress,
Diosdado Cabello. “It’s going to be hard to
put the brakes on the president... we’ll find
the right form of campaign.”
The undecideds will inevitably contrast
signs of Chavez’s physical weakness with the
image of youth and energy projected by
opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, a 39year-old, motorbike-riding, baseball capwearing state governor. Mocked as a
“chameleon” by Chavez, he is emulating the
president’s on-the-ground approach with daily trips into the slums. Campaign videos show
him giving houses built by the state government to elderly women and playing basketball with young people in poor
neighborhoods.
Capriles has a long way
to go, though, with the
latest poll - albeit a disputed one on a small
sample - giving him 34
percent support versus 52 for Chavez in
voter intentions. The
opposition’s big challenge is to invent their
own proposals to compete with Chavez’s
enormously popular
oil-funded social programs, like the “Great
Venezuelan Housing
Mission,” that has
built tens of thousands of new houses.
“Chavez will not be
able to run the campaign he wants to, but
he doesn’t need to
campaign as much as
Capriles,” said Leon.
Probably foreshadowing the race

to come, even from his Cuban hospital
Chavez kept himself in the spotlight via
Twitter messages, phone calls to state TV, a
drip-drip of photos and videos, and a televised cabinet meeting. The only person giving information on his condition, Chavez has
not said what kind of cancer he has or laid
out a detailed prognosis, though he has
announced he will need radiation treatments
which are bound to take a heavy physical toll.
Cancer experts say the treatment could
last for a couple of months with nasty sideeffects possible towards the end. “The pelvis
is a bit tricky because the field where he
would have to have radiotherapy would
encompass the rectum and the bladder and
part of the small bowel so he is likely to have
symptoms derived from the treatment,” said
Sunil Daryanani, an oncologist at the Hospital
de Clinicas Caracas.
Whether the former soldier could recover
before the campaign really kicks in has
become a national guessing game. Last year,
when surgeons removed a baseball-sized
tumor, many thought Chavez would take
more of a backseat. Yet even after chemotherapy that left him bald and bloated, Chavez
played baseball, danced in public, hosted a
regional summit, gave the world’s longestever presidential speech, and merrily
declared himself “completely cured”.
His optimism, which convinced six in ten
Venezuelans he was free of cancer according
to polls, was proven wrong with this year’s
recurrence, and Venezuelans are now much
more skeptical about whether he can stage a
full recovery. Though possibly enhancing its
chances of victory, the affair has sucked some
of the air out of the headlines and momentum the opposition garnered from a primary
election where a higher-than-expected 3 million voters participated. It has also overshadowed everyday problems like rampant crime
and high cost of living. Capriles’ team is sticking to its strategy, wishing the president a
speedy recovery while asking for more transparency about his condition, and trying to
return the focus to issues like crime, jobs and
health services. “We don’t agree with a country where the president decides everything
about what we should know (on his health),
and he is the central plank of the nation,”
Capriles’ campaign manager Armando
Briquet said. — Reuters

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

sp orts
Paerson plans to quit

Paul wins Chile Classic

Woods withdraws from WGC

STOCKHOLM: Former Olympic and world champion Anja Paerson will retire
after this week’s Alpine ski World Cup finals, bringing an end to a glittering
14-year career, the Swede said yesterday.
Paerson, whose season has been hampered by
a knee injury, made her World Cup debut at
the 1998 finals in Crans-Montana,
Switzerland, and the season-ending event
in Schladming, Austria, will be the 30year-old’s last. “Spectacular crashes and
long, drawn-out injury problems over
the last few years have reduced my
ability to perform at the highest level,”
Paerson said in a statement. “I have
always been a fighter and this is a
tough decision, but after thinking it
over I am ready for new challenges
in my life.” Paerson picked up a
slalom gold medal at the 2006
Winter Olympics in Turin, won seven world championship titles and
two overall World Cup crowns, in
2004 and 2006. — Reuters

SANTIAGO: Paul Haley II won the Chile Classic in his third career
Nationwide Tour start, closing with a 1-under 71 on Sunday for a
three-stroke victory.
The 24-year-old former Georgia Tech player shot 64 on Friday
and Saturday to take a six-shot lead into the final round. He finished at 22-under 266 and earned $108,000 in the inaugural event.
“I expected to come out here and play well, but nobody expects
to win in their third professional start,” Haley said. “This is awesome.”
Joseph Bramlett shot a 64 to finish second at Prince of Wales
Country Club. Paul Claxton was another stroke back after a 68.
Haley missed all but one fairway in his first 12 holes.
“I felt like if I could just hit a fairway I’d be OK,” Haley said. “I was
hitting my irons fairly well and my putter felt great all day. I figured
if I could somehow get a ball in the fairway, the birdies would eventually come.”
Haley found the fairway on the par-4 12th and made a 6-foot
birdie putt to widen the lead to three, then hit the fairway on the
par-4 14th and holed a 12-footer for birdie to push his advantage
to four strokes. “The course setup was the hardest of the week and
other than Joseph, nobody was going crazy low on the front nine,”
Haley said. “I didn’t look to see how things were until 14. I wanted
to know what I had to do to get it in.” — AP

DORAL: Tiger Woods withdrew from the WGC-Cadillac Championship on
Sunday with an Achilles tendon injury, raising doubts about his fitness for
next month’s Masters at Augusta National.
The former world number one had been limping during his final round
when he abruptly called it quits and left the course after
completing 11 holes. He was three-over-par for the
day and seemingly out of contention to win the
tournament. Woods initially told PGA officials it was
a left leg injury but later clarified the nature of his
problem in a statement.
“I felt tightness in my left Achilles warming up
this morning, and it continued to get progressively worse. After hitting my tee shot at 12, I
decided it was necessary to withdraw,” he said.
“In the past, I may have tried to continue to play,
but this time, I decided to do what I thought was
necessary. “I will get my Achilles evaluated sometime early next week,” the statement concluded. Woods, who had changed shoes
midway through the round, was
escorted from the Blue Monster
course on a buggy and taken to
the carpark. — Reuters

PITTSBURGH: James Neal had a goal and two assists as
the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Boston Bruins 5-2 on
Sunday for their ninth straight victory.
Chris Kunitz, Arron Asham, Pascal Dupis and Matt
Niskanen also scored for Pittsburgh. Evgeni Malkin had
three assists to move into the NHL points lead with 84,
two ahead of Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 34 shots to run his personal winning streak to eight. David Krejci scored twice
for the Bruins, but the Penguins chased Tim Thomas
after the first period to keep the pressure on the Eastern
Conference-leading New York Rangers.

overtime. Slava Voynov and Jeff Carter scored in regulation for Los Angeles. Marcus Kruger and Patrick Kane
scored for Chicago. Kane tied it at 2 at 7:36 of the third
with his fifth goal in seven games.
Panthers 2, Hurricanes 0
At Sunrise, Florida, Jose Theodore made 34 saves for
his third shutout of the season as Florida beat Carolina
to maintain the Southwest Division lead.
Tomas Fleischmann scored in the second period, and

Rangers 4, Islanders 3
At New York, Marian Gaborik scored the Rangers’
third power-play goal in the dying seconds of overtime
as New York snapped its season-worst, three-game regulation losing streak with a victory over the Islanders.
With the Madison Square Garden crowd imploring
the Rangers to “Shoot the puck,” Gaborik snapped a rising shot over goalie Evgeni Nabokov’s right shoulder to
win it at 4:54.
Brad Richards scored twice on the power play to
reach 20 goals for the ninth time, and helped set up
Gaborik’s winner for the Rangers. Brian Boyle also
scored for the Rangers. John Tavares, Matt Moulson and
defenseman Andrew MacDonald scored for the
Islanders.

Stewart uses bold move
late to win at Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS: Timing the restart perfectly, Tony
Stewart dove to the edge of the apron and
ducked under the two cars in front of him. With
one bold move, the defending Sprint Cup champion was on his way to a redemptive win.
Stewart made a three-wide pass on a late
restart and held off Jimmie Johnson at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway on Sunday, winning at a track
that was the site of his biggest disappointment
last season.
“We had to wait 365 days for a shot at it again,”
Stewart said. “I might not have been so mad on
the airplane had I known I was going to win a
year later.”
Stewart came back to Las Vegas with a new
crew chief and the hope of having a little better
luck than he had a year ago, when a pit mishap
spoiled a chance at victory with what he believed
to be the best car in the field.
With Steve Addington calling the shots from
the pit box, Stewart again had a good car in his
return trip to the desert, uncatchable on the
restarts and good enough to hold off Johnson,
Greg Biffle and anyone else who tried to track
him down.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a car that
fast,” said Biffle, who finished third. “On the
restarts, I’ve just never seen a car driving off like
that.” Stewart got the lead with a did-he-just-dothat move with 34 laps to go in the 400-mile race.
Coming around turn 4 to the start/finish line,
Stewart charged up behind Brad Keselowski and
timed it just right to dip below him on the apron.
He zipped to the front and stayed there, pulling
away on three more less-thrilling restarts over the
final 17 laps.
It was his sixth win in the past 13 Sprint Cup
races and first on the 1.5-mile tri-oval not far from
the bright lights of the The Strip.
“We almost got too good a restart because I
got such a good run on Brad, I almost got there
too quick,” Stewart said. “If we’d have got there a
foot earlier, we’d have had to check up and probably wouldn’t get a run and get underneath him
like that.”
A year ago, Stewart appeared to be cruising to
Victory Lane at Las Vegas, only to be tripped up in
the pits. He was penalized for leaving his pit stall
with an air hose still attached and the team opted
to take two tires on a later stop to get him back to

the front. Stewart did get to the front, but the rest
of the teams saw that taking two tires would
work and switched tactics. Forced to take four
tires late in the race, he dropped to 22nd and ran
out of time to catch Carl Edwards, finishing second.
Stewart went on to win his third Sprint Cup
championship, thanks to the five times he was
able to get to Victory Lane. He fired crew chief
Darian Grubb after the season and lured
Addington from Penske Racing to replace him.
Stewart was 16th at the Daytona 500 and had
a good finish ruined last week at Phoenix after he
turned off his car to save on fuel and couldn’t get
it to re-fire, a problem believed to be linked to
NASCAR’s new electronic fuel injection system.
He was well back in the pack after a lengthy pit
stop and finished 22nd. Stewart qualified seventh
at Las Vegas and took his first lead on lap 135,
beating Johnson on a restart. He lost the lead
briefly on a cycle of green-flag pit stops and
quickly regained it.

Capitals 2, Maple Leafs 0
At Washington, Michal Neuvirth made 23 saves for
his third shutout of the season, and Brooks Laich and
Matthieu Perreault scored in Washington’s victory over
Toronto.
Jonas Gustavsson made 21 saves for the Maple Leafs,
who have lost four straight and 10 of 11, their fortunes
barely changed in the five games since the change in
coaches from Ron Wilson to Randy Carlyle. Toronto was
coming off a 1-0 shootout loss at home to Philadelphia
on Saturday night.
Devils 4, Flyers 1
At Newark, New Jersey, Martin Brodeur made 18
saves for his 650th career victory and Ilya Kovalchuk
had a goal and two assists in New Jersey’s victory over
Philadelphia.
Patrik Elias, Anton Volchenkov and Zach Parise also
scored for the Devils, who have won four straight and
five of their last six. With victory, the Devils pulled even
with the fifth-place Flyers. Both teams have 85 points,
although the Flyers have played one fewer game.
Sergei Bobrovsky was in goal for the Flyers as the
streaking Ilya Bryzgalov got a night off after starting 11
straight games. Claude Giroux scored for the Flyers.

Blues 2, Blue Jackets 1
At Columbus, Ohio, David Perron broke a tie early in
the third period, and Jaroslav Halak made 33 saves to
help NHL-leading St. Louis beat Columbus for its season-high fifth straight victory.
Patrik Berglund also scored for St. Louis. The Blues,
coming off a 4-1 victory over Columbus on Saturday
night in St. Louis, have won nine of 10 to improve to 4518-7. Mark Letestu scored for Columbus.
Kings 3, Blackhawks 2
At Chicago, Mike Richards scored the lone goal in a
six-round shutout to lift Los Angeles past Chicago.
Richards beat Ray Emery with a quick wrist shot after
Emery stopped the Kings’ first five shooters.
Los Angeles goalie Jonathan Quick stopped all six
Chicago shooters after making 35 saves - including
Viktor Stalberg’s third-period penalty shot - through

Marcel Goc added an empty-net goal. The Panthers, a
point ahead of Washington in the division race, won for
the second time in their past six games, and have beaten the Hurricanes in all four meetings this season. Cam
Ward stopped 31 shots for Carolina.

He turned back a challenge by Keselowski and
pulled away from Johnson on a final restart with
four laps left to finally take the checkers, leaving
Darlington and Kentucky as the only active tracks
he hasn’t won at.
“I really believe Tony is really coming into his
own with Stewart-Haas Racing,” co-owner Gene
Haas said. “He’s as calm as I’ve ever seen him,
composed, very confident in what he does. I have
no doubt this could be another pivotal year for
Tony.”
Johnson had to break out a backup car after a
crash in practice on Saturday, sending him to the
back of the field. He didn’t take long to get to the
front, though, challenging Matt Kenseth for the
lead by lap 83. Johnson, who has never won in a
backup car, overtook Kenseth 16 laps later and
stayed there until Stewart beat him on a restart
on lap 134. The five-time Sprint Cup champion
stayed within range and was third coming out of
a caution with 17 laps, then quickly passed Biffle
for second. — AP

LAS VEGAS: Tony Stewart (14) leads coming out of a restart during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
auto race. Stewart won the race. —AP

Flames 4, Wild 3
At St. Paul, Minnesota, Jarome Iginla scored early and
set up Curtis Glencross’ go-ahead goal late with a
botched shot that became a pass as Calgary hung on to
beat Minnesota for its third straight victory.
Glencross has a goal in seven straight games for the
Flames, who moved into a tie for eighth place with the
Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference with 76
points.
Sven Baertschi scored his first career goal to put the
Flames up 2-0 early in the third period, but Erik
Christensen scored twice for the Wild in less than 2 1/2
minutes to level it. Olli Jokinen also scored for Calgary.
Devin Setoguchi had a late goal for Minnesota. —AP

Dour preseason frustrates
Ferrari’s F1 title hopes
MADRID: Ferrari’s dour preseason has undermined the Italian team’s
Formula One title hopes, and will likely leave a frustrated Fernando
Alonso in Red Bull’s rearview mirror again.
Ferrari’s new design lacked competitive edge in testing and
appears to have fallen behind McLaren and Lotus in the chase to
dethrone Red Bull and two-time defending champion Sebastian
Vettel.
Pat Fry already said Ferrari has no shot at the podium in the season opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday as the team struggles
to stabilize an already radically redesigned car.
“I saw in (team principal Stefano) Domenicali and our engineers a
great desire to show what they’re worth and to react to a winter program that didn’t live up to our targets,” Ferrari president Luca di
Montezemolo said. “We will only discover the truth about where we
stand compared to the others after Saturday’s qualifying session in
Melbourne. Today we can only make assumptions.”
Fry replaced technical director Aldo Costa last season with the
Italian team struggling and the decision to take risks on this year’s
design has left Ferrari looking vulnerable due to its inability to completely understand its car in testing.
“The new car has certain characteristics that are difficult to understand and you could say we are not exactly where we want to be,”
said two-time world champion Alonso, the Spanish driver going into
his third season with the team. “But we’ve all lived through many
Formula One seasons and we all know very well that until we’re in
Australia we don’t really know where we stand regarding to the others.” Since Kimi Raikkonen edged Alonso and then McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton for the 2007 title in the season’s final race, the
Italians have struggled to compete with McLaren and Red Bull, who
have swept to three of the four titles since. Alonso, meanwhile, has
twice lost championships in season finales, the last to Vettel during
his debut season with Ferrari.
Alonso won at Silverstone last year but Ferrari never mounted a
serious challenge to Vettel, who won 11 of 19 races to become the
youngest driver to win back-to-back titles - breaking Alonso’s record
earned with Renault in 2005 and ‘06.
Teammate Felipe Massa, meanwhile, is racing to keep his place on
the team after two sub-par seasons following a serious crash in
Hungary in 2009. The Brazilian driver, who lost the 2008 title on the
last lap of the season when Hamilton edged him by a single point,
hasn’t had a top-three finish in 21 races. Struggling on the track,
Domenicali turned to the country’s storied tradition in football for
inspiration. “To those who ask me if I would sign today for a third
place in Melbourne, I would say that I’m not signing anything. Maybe
the same will happen as in 1982 when in the World Cup, Italy got off
to a bad start and then in the end, went on to win when it mattered,”
said Domenicali, going into his fifth season in charge and still in
search of his first title.
“Sport goes in cycles ... and at the moment, this is the Red Bull
cycle.” Perhaps Alonso should note Raikkonen’s words at the close of
preseason testing last week. “There is no point to guess here. I don’t
know who’s going to be fastest,” Raikkonen of Lotus said. “Nobody
knows.” —AP

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

sp orts

Good story lines and some good NCAA picks
NEW YORK: There’s only one No. 1 team
in the country, as the selection committee made clear in picking Kentucky as
the overall top seed in the NCAA tournament just a few hours after the Wildcats
were upset by Vanderbilt in the
Southeastern Conference tournament
final. No argument there.
Actually, there wasn’t much to scream
about on any of the tournament picks,
which made for some dull moments
among the talking heads on television.
They spent all week sharpening their
claws, only to find out the selection
committee left them few targets to
attack.
If anything, the people who pick the
field might have done their best work to
date. They’ve got a formula that works,
and they managed to find a way to
tweak it this year to make things even
more fun. How else do you explain a
possible meeting of UNLV and Duke for
the first time since the Blue Devils upset
one of the greatest college teams ever
21 years ago in the Final Four? Even bet-

ter, Duke and Kentucky could meet in
the South final almost 20 years to the
day since Christian Laettner hit The Shot
to give Duke a thrilling 104-103 win over
the Wildcats in the East Regional final.
So Drexel didn’t get in. So what.
Nevada didn’t get an invite, either, and
the Wolf Pack won 16 games in a row at
one point during the season and lost
only one conference game before falling
in the WAC tournament.
Glittering records just don’t count like
they used to. Not with coaches loading
up with soft nonconference games, so
many so that 112 teams in the country
had 20 wins or more.
Win your conference title, and you’re
in. Lose, and you’re just another 25-win
team heading to the NIT. Besides, there
are better things to do than complain.
Like look forward to some tournament
story lines like these:
The Wildcats are so loaded that John
Calipari’s biggest worry heading into the
postseason was that his players would
be so busy worrying about the NBA draft

that they would forget to take care of
business. That might well have been the
case last year when Kentucky was beaten in the national semifinals by
Connecticut, and four players were
picked in the draft.
Complacency also might have set in
Sunday, when the Wildcats lost to
Vanderbilt and had a 24-game win
streak snapped. This year up to six players could be drafted if all the underclassmen come out early, which begs the
question: How does Calipari maintain
Kentucky’s graduation rate with so many
one-and-done players arriving on campus every season?
There is no quieter top-five team in
the country than the Tigers. That’s probably fine with first-year coach Frank
Haith, who made the wrong kind of
headlines before the season when questions were raised about his ties with a
booster at the University of Miami who
liked to show players a good time.
Missouri benefited from a cupcake
schedule early, but the Tigers won 30

games and the Big 12 title. Their fourguard team will cause mismatch problems for anyone.
No, the Cardinals won’t make a run
deep into the NCAA tournament,
though that doesn’t make them any less
fascinating. Lamar hasn’t lost since
coach Pat Knight ripped into them for
being, among other things, quitters and
drug users.
Psychologists can debate the
method, but no one can debate Lamar’s
place in the tournament after winning
the Southland Conference tournament.
Knight’s father, Bob Knight, called it his
best day in college basketball, which
almost made Brent Musburger cry on
national television. This would be a great
feel-good story, except it’s hard to feel
good about anything father or son has
to say.
Bernie Fine won’t be on the bench for
this Final Four run, and for a while it
looked like Jim Boeheim might not be
either. But Boeheim survived the child
sex-abuse scandal surrounding his long-

time assistant and his team won 31
games to get the No. 1 seed in the East.
Assuming yet another scandal - players
on previous teams not being suspended
for positive drug tests - doesn’t derail the
Orangemen, they have a legitimate shot
of making the title game for the fourth
time in Boeheim’s 36 years in charge.
My personal favorite in the tournament, if only because I love the way Tom
Izzo coaches. He schedules tough teams
and isn’t afraid to take a few hits doing it,
something that happened this year in
opening losses to Duke and North
Carolina. His teams play hard night after
night, which makes them especially difficult in tournaments, one reason Izzo has
led the Spartans to six Final Four appearances in 16 years. Michigan State also
has Draymond Green and one of the
easier paths in the West region to make
another run.
So many good stories. Almost as
many good teams. No need to manufacture controversy. And no need to whine
about what might have been.—AP

Loeb triumphs in Mexico
MEXICO: Sebastien Loeb extended his lead
in the world championship with a comfortable victory in the Rally Mexico on Sunday.
The Frenchman won the rally for the
sixth year in a row after starting the final
day with a commanding 36-second lead
which he increased to more than 42 seconds by the end.
His Citroen team mate Mikko Hirvonen
finished second and Norway ’s Petter
Solberg came third, more than two minutes
behind the winner, on the gravel stages
around host city Leon.
“I am very happy,” Loeb told reporters. “I
always win here. It is a great result for the
team as well, with Mikko finishing second, a
one-two for us.”
Solberg’s factory Ford team mate JariMatti Latvala was poised to finish third
when he went off the road after getting

distracted when Russia’s Evgeny Novikov
crashed ahead of him. Latvala finished the
stage but the damage to his roll cage
forced him to retire with two stages
remaining. “I saw from far away Novikov’s
car and I was very confused,” said the Finn.
“I first thought the car was on the road
and I made a movement to avoid it and my
car went off and rolled. It took a lot to get it
back on the road.”
Norway’s Mads Ostberg recovered from
a puncture to finish fourth while Estonia’s
Ott Tanak was fifth and Qatar’s Nasser AlAttiyah sixth. Loeb, already an eight-time
world champion, extended his lead in this
year’s title race to 16 points after three of
13 rounds. He has 66 points with Hirvonen
second on 50 and Solberg third with 47.
The next rally is in Portugal at the end of
the month.—Reuters

Britain takes leap of faith
LONDON: Standing in neat lines in a
south London gym, a squad of handpicked, tracksuited youngsters stretch
their arms in unison, counting together
in Mandarin.
Taking the proverb ‘if you can’t beat
them, join them’ quite literally, Crystal
Palace diving club has turned to Chinese
expertise to foster Britain’s future
Olympic hopes.
“We always had good divers. But I
thought that if we wanted medals en
masse then we would have to do what
the Chinese did,” club founder and former world champion Chris Snode said.
Snode made the decision to recruit
Chinese coaches seven years ago when
London won the bid to stage the 2012
Olympics, and now 15 of the approximately 460 children in the program are in
the top England talent squad, with their
eyes set on Rio 2016.
Key to the program, says Snode, is
that rather than waiting for potential
divers to come to them, they proactively
go into schools to seek out youngsters
with the right kind of physical attributes
to excel at the sport.
Those characteristics include flexibility, upper body strength and co-ordination. By the end of this month, the club
will have tested 100,000 seven- to 10year-olds across the British capital, looking for perfectly pointed toes and naturally loose Achilles tendons.
More than 90 percent of the young
divers at the club have been chosen this
way. It is a far cry from the 1970s, when
Snode took up diving relatively late after
some free vouchers were sent to his
school, and was able to build on his natural ability because he happened to live
near a diving pool with good coaches.
“In the old days, you had to be lucky,”
he said. The Crystal Palace training program is led by Chen Wen, who was
Britain’s Olympic coach in 2004 and 2008
and Australia’s coach in 2000.
Wen and his team have introduced
greater discipline and hard work - getting
the children to put in more hours and
spending much more time practising

tumbles in a ‘dry gym’ that builds the athletes’ confidence. They have also brought
in innovative new methods of using harnesses, bouncy boards and other equipment. “What they do is logical, it’s fascinating to watch,” Snode added.
The squad is dominated by girls, who
the coaches say are more likely to do
activities such as gymnastics and dance
that complement diving and build up
early flexibility.
“It’s harder to find boys,” admits assistant coach Chen Yang, shouting advice to
the practising divers from the side of the
pool. “They all play football.”
That’s not a problem China has, he
adds, though the desire to perform to an
audience and plethora of competitions
that are a feature of British schoolchildren’s lives are a rare advantage
Westerners have over the Chinese.
China’s divers are currently dominating the sport, winning all the diving
golds at last year’s world championships
and firm favourites to sweep the medals
in August.
Britain’s main London 2012 medal
hope Tom Daley, who became a household name when he competed in Beijing
at the age of 14 and then won the 10metre world platform championship a
year later, has been struggling to live up
to national expectations.
However, Daley’s high profile has
helped spark interest in the sport among
young Britons, with the numbers of
entries in the country’s club competitions
rising significantly.
“Tom’s been very good for British diving,” Snode said. The Olympics coming to
home territory is largely shrugged off by
the youngsters, most of whom have not
been able to secure seats in the muchcriticised ticket lottery, meaning they
won’t be able to see their older compatriots diving at the Aquatics Centre just a
few miles away.
But the minds of these confident
young athletes are more on Rio than
London. “One day we’ll get to the
Olympics,” said 10-year-old Anais. “So we
don’t need tickets, do we?”—Reuters

DORAL: England’s Justin Rose
won
the
WGC- Cadillac
Championship on Sunday by one
stroke from American Bubba
Watson after former world number one Tiger Woods set off alarm
bells by withdrawing mid-round
with injury.
The composed Rose shot a final
round 70 to finish at 16-under-par
while Watson, who had led by
three at the start of the day, ended at 15-under after closing with a
74. “These moments are incredible
and they are few and far between
as a golfer,” said Rose. “There has
been a lot of work going on with
my game and days like this, where
it just all shows up, makes it all
worthwhile.”
Watson missed an eight-foot
birdie putt on the last hole that
would have forced a playoff but
the left-handed American ultimately paid the price for four
bogeys on the front nine.
Rose, who had played smart
and tidy golf all week, offered a
glimmer of hope to his rival when
he bogeyed the 18th after driving
into the rough then launching his
approach over the back of the
green.
The victory was the first in a
WGC event for Rose and could
move him into the top ten when
the next edition of the world rankings are released.
Watson had driven into the
trees on the 18th but, knowing he
needed a birdie, produced a magnificent shot to eight feet to give
himself a chance of extending the
contest only to miss the putt.
“We just didn’t give enough.
We thought it was not going to
break as much and it broke about
three inches too much,” said
Watson. “I still had a chance in the
end so I was proud of myself for
fighting, not giving up, grinding it

out and never got down today.”
World number one Rory McIlroy
had put himself in the frame with
an eagle on the par-five 12th but
needed a birdie on the 18th to
really put the pressure on Rose.
But the Northern Irishman’s bogey
left him two shots back in third
place af ter carding 67 for the
round. After shooting a 73 and 69
in his first two outings this week,
McIlroy continued his impressive
run of finishes following his victory in the Honda Classic last week.
“I would have taken this after
Friday, being only two-under par,”
he said. “It’s been a really good
weekend with lots of positive. It
wasn’t quite the way I wanted to

finish but it’s still been a good
week.” There was drama midway
through the round when Woods,
clearly in discomfort, withdrew on
the 12th hole with an Achilles tendon injur y prompting concern
about his fitness for next month’s
Masters. Woods was three-overpar for the day and seemingly out
of contention to win the tournament when he abruptly called it
quits, returning to the carpark
then driving himself off the
course.
“In the past, I may have tried to
continue to play, but this time, I
decided to do what I thought was
necessary,” he said in a statement.
South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel

showed good form ahead of his
Masters title defence, shooting 68
to finish tied on fourth, three off
the lead, with Dane Peter Hanson.
American Keegan Bradley, the
PGA Championship winner last
year, was in contention until fading down the stretch with bogeys
on the 15th and 17th and a double on the final hole.
Australia’s John Senden
impressed with his flawless round
of 65 pushing him up to a tie for
sixth with England’s Luke Donald,
the world number two. Senden’s
round was the equal best of the
final day along with I talian
Francesco Molinari who was also
bogey-free in his 65—Reuters

MIAMI: Justin Rose of England hits a shot during the second round of the World Golf
Championships-Cadillac Championship.—AFP

McNeill charges past Ishikawa

SANTIAGO: Paul Haley of United States holds up the trophy during the final round of the Chile Classic presented
by Pacific Rubiales at Prince of Wales Country Club.—AFP

PUERTO RICO: American George McNeill birdied the last three holes to surge
past Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa and win his second PGA Tour title by two shots at the
Puerto Rico Open on Sunday. The 36-year-old fired a three-under-par 69 at
Trump International Golf Club in Rio Grande to post a 16-under total of 272.
Japanese sensation Ishikawa, seeking his first victory on the US circuit, had to
settle for second place after closing with a six-birdie 68.
American Boo Weekley (66) and Swede Henrik Stenson (71) were a further
stroke back at 13 under in a tie for third. McNeill, who claimed his maiden PGA
Tour victory as a rookie at the 2007 Frys.com Open, held a one-stroke lead
going into Sunday’s final round but trailed early finisher Ishikawa by one with
two holes to play.
“I was not aware that Ryo Ishikawa had the lead,” McNeill told reporters
after mixing six birdies with three bogeys. I knew that I needed to make a few
birdies coming in, and that’s the only thing I could really control.
“After I birdied 16 and was walking up to the 17th green after I hit my second shot is when I saw that he had the lead with me. “So I had about a 10-footer there, and I said: ‘Well, I need to make it.’ So it was not like it was an easy cake
walk, but it was a nice way to win.”
McNeill rolled in birdie putts from 25, 10 and four feet at the 16th, 17th and
the last to seal victory. Ishikawa, a winner of 10 professional titles worldwide,
hoped to capitalise on his best PGA Tour finish.
“I made three birdies in the last four holes, and it was great for me to be
very close to the winning experience,” the 20-year-old said. “It felt like a dream
sometimes. If I get the next chance (to win), I will grab it for sure.”—Reuters

Saint-Andre make changes against Wales
MARCOUSSIS: France coach Philippe SaintAndre yesterday made six changes to his squad
to take on Grand Slam-chasing Wales for the final
day of the Six Nations tournament in Cardiff.
The changes for this Saturday’s game follow
the shattering 24-22 loss to England at the Stade
de France on Sunday, a result that wrecked
French hopes of successfully defending the title
they won last year.
In come lock Julien Pierre, flanker Fulgence
Ouedraogo, scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili, centre
Florian Fritz, winger Alexis Palisson and full-back
Jean-Marcellin Butin, who at 20 is called up to
the international squad for the first time.
Paying the price of the loss to the English are
lock and former skipper Lionel Nallet, scrum-half
Julien Dupuy, centre Maxime Mermoz and
winger Julien Malzieu, while winger Vincent
Clerc was not considered due to injury.
“It’s sort of a page that’s turning,” said SaintAndre. “There are players injured, choices we

made, certain players who are very tired as well
after three consecutive high-level matches.
“Like Lionel Nallet for example, a monument
of French rugby, an exemplary player. “We would
have liked for the veterans to have an exceptional celebration Saturday in Cardiff. Unfortunately
it’s not possible. It’s difficult but we have to think
about the future.”
“I wanted to really thank Lionel Nallet regarding his spirit, his professionalism. “I was lucky to
coach him at Bourgoin and again in the France
team. He knew that we had a sort of a deal
together - if we played a final at Cardiff, he
would have continued the adventure.
Unfortunately the adventure finishes here.”
Saint-Andre said that the decision to leave
out Mermoz, 25, was strategic. “It’s more a strategic choice regarding the Welsh. We brought on
two players who can play wing-back (Buttin and
Palisson) while knowing that we have solutions
at centre with Wesley Fofana, who started at

centre and finished on the wing,” he said. Florian
Fritz was also given the nod ahead of Toulouse
teammate Yann David, who suffered a groin
injury two weeks ago and is not 100 percent fit.
And Saint-Andre warned his side would not
be taking their foot off the pedal against Wales
who will win their second Six Nations title and
Grand Slam of coach Warren Gatland’s four-year
reign if they win at the Millennium Stadium.
“There is the pride that comes with playing
for your country and for the France team. Pride
also at trying to take the Grand Slam off the
Welsh in front of their public. We’re going to be
in a packed stadium with an incredible atmosphere.
“For them (the Welsh) it ’s a chance for
revenge for the (World Cup) semi-final.
We have to be courageous, with a lot of selfsacrifice, but I’m sure that the 23 French players
are going to do everything to play a great match
on Saturday in Cardiff.”—AFP

17

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

SPORTS

Distractions overshadow Olympic buildup in India
NEW DELHI: Right when it should be overseeing the selection and final preparations
for its team for London 2012, the Indian
Olympic Association has been consumed
with two more divisive and contentious
issues.
Persistent rumors of a boycott have all
been ruled out, but constant speculation
over the continued involvement of scandaltainted IOA president Suresh Kalmadi won’t
go away.
The IOA is under scrutiny by the
International Olympic Committee for keeping Kalmadi as its figurehead - even without
executive powers - while he fights corruption allegations stemming from his role in
the organizing committee of the 2010
Commonwealth Games.
The IOC executive board meets in
Lausanne today and tomorrow, and could
refer Kalmadi’s situation to the ethics com-

mittee. Kalmadi has spent time in jail awaiting trial over the corruption allegations
relating to the scandal-plagued New Delhi
Games in 2010, with Vijay Kumar Malhotra
performing all the presidential duties in a
stand-in capacity. Malhotra says Kalmadi who has refused to resign - is innocent until
proven guilty, and shouldn’t be denied natural justice.
“We’ve been in touch with the IOC and
have explained to them that Mr. Kalmadi is
not running the affairs and that he has also
not been pronounced guilty so far,”
Malhotra told The Associated Press. “We’re
not expecting any sanctions from the IOC
because of these reasons.”
Interest in Olympic sports has increased
in this country of 1.2 billion since shooter
Abhinav Bindra won India’s first ever individual Olympic gold medal at Beijing in
2008. The performances of athletes at the

2010 Commonwealth Games and at the
Asian Games later that year also gave rise to
increased expectations for London 2012.
A number of doping cases has tarnished
some of those performances, while
Malhotra has had other concerns to deal
with - namely calls for an Olympic boycott
because of a sponsor’s links to a gas leak
disaster in the central Indian city of Bhopal
in 1984.
Dow Chemicals, which is sponsoring an
$11-million decorative wrap that will be
installed around London’s Olympic
Stadium, bought Union Carbide in 2000.
Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant is blamed
for a deadly gas leak that killed about
15,000 people and injured half a million.
Critics argue that the purchase makes the
US-based company responsible for lingering contamination and other issues.
After pressure from lobby groups, the

IOA and the Indian sports ministry wrote to
the IOC asking for Dow to be dropped as a
sponsor.
But the IOC has maintained the position
that Dow was not responsible for the gas
leak and the company would continue as
an Olympic sponsor.
Pere Miro, the IOC’s director of National
Olympic Committee relations, wrote to the
Indian sports ministry last week saying that
the IOC sympathized with the grief of the
victims’ families but that Dow had bought
Union Carbide 16 years after the accident
and 12 years after a compensation settlement was agreed upon.
Malhotra appears to be against a full
boycott of the London Games. “There is no
question of a boycott but we may decide to
take part under protest,” Malhotra said. But
the issue has also been taken further by the
sports ministry.

Amid unsubstantiated reports that
Indian officials were considering staying
away from official functions including the
opening and closing ceremonies, India’s
sports minister Ajay Maken said last week
the government had not decided on a
boycott.
“What athletes feel will play an important role in our decision,” Maken told the
CNN-IBN news channel, fueling more speculation about protest action at the London
Games. Malhotra has subsequently accused
the government of hypocrisy, citing its own
association with Dow.
“The government’s double speak has
created more problems and weakened our
case further. While it wants the (London)
organizers to drop Dow as sponsor, a
department of the agriculture ministry held
a seminar last month which was sponsored
by Dow,” Malhotra said. —AP

US head to Olympics
after show of strength

Bradley Wiggins

Wiggins makes himself
a credible Tour threat
PARIS: Bradley Wiggins has made himself
a credible Tour de France contender with
his Paris-Nice victory, showing guts and
composure to claim one of the biggest
wins of his career on the road.
A Tour route tailor-made for ‘rouleurs’,
Alberto Contador’s absence, a strong team
and a few lessons learnt mean that
Wiggins will have the biggest chance of his
career to win the greatest cycling race in
the world.
The Team Sky rider won the Paris-Nice
race after claiming the final time trial, a
9.6-km dash to the Col d’Eze on Sunday
that suggested Wiggins still had plenty left
in the tank after a week of climbing and
racing in the wind and cold.
He became the first Briton to win the
week-long ‘Race to the Sun’ since Tom
Simpson in 1967. The late Simpson never
won the Tour, but Wiggins surely has what
it takes to make 2012 a vintage year for
British cycling.
This year’s Tour will feature 101.5 kms
of time trials, compared with 65.5 last year
and 60.9 in 2009, a great asset for Wiggins
while it should dramatically reduce the
chances of Andy Schleck, a pure climber
who has always struggled against the
clock.
“It’s obvious that this Tour will favour
Wiggins much more than the last two editions,” Radioshack-Nissan team manager
Johan Bruyneel, who guided Lance
Armstrong to his seven Tour titles and
Contador to his 2007 and 2009 triumphs
on the French roads, told Reuters during
Paris-Nice.
Wiggins, however, believes freshness
will be the key factor, especially in the final
individual time trial, a 53.5-km ride
between Bonneval and Chartres on the
eve of the Champs Elysees parade.
“It’s more about freshness. If you’re not
fresh, your time trial abilities count for
nothing,” the 31-year-old Wiggins told
Reuters before the start of Paris-Nice.
In 2009, Wiggins finished a decent sixth
in the final time trial in Annecy, and
Sunday’s performance in the uphill ride to
the Col d’Eze suggested the three-times
track cycling Olympic champion has
enough energy to get through three
weeks of racing - if he does not peak too
early, that is.
“You cannot win the Tour de France if

you also want to win the Dauphine (a few
weeks earlier),” Bruyneel said, referring to
Wiggins’s victory in last year’s Criterium du
Dauphine.
Another factor in the June 30-July 22
race will be Contador’s absence after the
Spaniard was banned for failing a dope
test during the 2010 race.
Contador would have been the
favourite and his absence will undoubtedly leave a spot available on the podium in
Paris.
Defending champion Cadel Evans of
Australia will probably start as the
favourite now, but Wiggins will focus on
himself. “You can’t worry too much about
if he’s there...you just concentrate on what
you’re doing as a team and individually,”
he said.
Wiggins’s team on the Tour could feature several decent domestiques who
could help him in the mountains, such as
Australian Richie Porte or Colombian
Rigoberto Uran.
The Belgium-born Wiggins will have to
deal with the presence of world champion
Mark Cavendish in the team and his compatriot’s goal in the race could affect Team
Sky’s line-up.
“If they pick seven lead-out riders (for
the sprints) it’s clear that I’m on my own
for GC (general classification),” he said.
His Paris-Nice win suggests, however,
that Team Sky will put resources behind
Wiggins, especially as several domestiques
can double up for the lead-out.
Wiggins even sees Cavendish’s presence as a blessing in disguise because it
will allow him to ride towards the front of
the peloton during the flat stages as Team
Sky will look to set up the Manxman for
the sprint finishes.
Last year, Wiggins crashed out in the
seventh stage, partially because of some
bad positioning in the bunch. “One of the
big gains of having Cav is you can ride
more in the front. I’ll probably get a safer
ride,” he explained.
That lesson learnt, Wiggins should be
able to rely on a well-oiled squad. “A
great week for the team and we’re moving onwards and upwards. The way we
rode and how we handled all the situations makes it a great result,” Team Sky
sports director Sean Yates said on
Sunday. —Reuters

ISTANBUL: ‘Watch out London the Americans are coming’ was
the message after the US team
recorded their best showing at the
world indoor championships with
10 gold medals in Istanbul.
Men’s team coach John Moon
was in buoyant mood as the athletes, fresh from their record success, now turn their attention to
the year’s main event, the
Olympics. “Going into the championships I gave the team a challenge of 17 medals,” Moon told
Reuters.
“Some people might have
thought that was foolish with
such a young team. But we came
here and got 18 medals. We sent a
message that we are ready for
London. I’m proud of this team
and it was a team effort.
“Of all of the big stars here, to
come out with that many medals
is great. They came to the challenge. A lot of these kids will be in
London,” he added.
One of the younger team
members was 24-year-old Ashton
Eaton, who was a class apart in the
heptathlon and is seemingly able
to break the world record at will
after setting his third for the event
in two years with 6,645 points.
The US also have the Olympic
gold medallist Bryan Clay and
world champion Trey Hardee in
their ranks. “If all of us are 100 percent healthy, and even 80 percent
in shape, realistically we could
sweep (the Olympic medals),”
Eaton said.
A revitalised Justin Gatlin
showed he was heading back to
his best after returning from a
four-year doping ban by winning
the men’s 60 metres from
Jamaican Nesta Carter.
It is likely, however, that he will
face a much tougher test in

London against the likes of compatriot Tyson Gay and Jamaica’s
world record holder Usain Bolt.
The US also showed strength in
depth in the jumps with one-two’s
for Brittney Reese and Janay
DeLoach in the long jump and Will
Claye and Christian Taylor in the
triple.
“Seeing everyone else do well
was great,” said Claye. “The jumps
in the US are coming back. Plenty
of guys are jumping far. They are

Jelimo and Nataliya Dobrynska at
the Atakoy Athletics Arena.
Both pole vaulter Isinbayeva
and 800 metres runner Pamela
Jelimo suffered from injury and
loss of form following their triumphs in Beijing but after taking
breaks from the sport, the pair
comfortably won their respective
events.
Russian world record holder
Isinbayeva needed just two jumps
to earn a fourth world indoor title

Chernova of Russia since.
However, she stepped out of the
shadows in Istanbul to break the
pentathlon world record with a
score of 5,013 and propel herself
into the favourite’s position for
London.
All eyes were on Ennis and
world 5,000 metres champion Mo
Farah for the Olympic hosts and
although neither won their events
in Turkey, Britain finished second
in the medals table with their best

ISTANBUL: United States’ Aries Merritt celebrates winning the gold medal in the Men’s 60m
Hurdles final during the World Indoor Athletics Championships in this file photo. —AP
good guys in college and (world
champion) Dwight (Phillips) hasn’t
even jumped yet this year.”
There were some timely
reminders from Olympic champions Yelena Isinbayeva, Pamela

Curvy dancing
prepares Fujiwara
for marathon
TOKYO: The hip-shaking Japanese fitness fad of
curvy dancing helped marathon runner Arata
Fujiwara to qualify for the London Olympics.
Hiromi Kashiki, the creator of the popular dance
style based on highly suggestive hip-gyrating
movements, says Fujiwara, who visited her studio
for a one-on-one workout the day before last
month’s Tokyo Marathon, is a natural.
“When I first saw Fujiwara, I noticed his pelvis
was going up and down, left and right - it wasn’t
very stable,” she told Reuters in her Tokyo dance
studio. “I tried to make sure his pelvic area was
more relaxed - removing wasted energy to release
that explosive power.”
Fujiwara said: “Up till now I’ve been really bad
at using my hips effectively. After I got some lessons from Kashiki and her curvy dancing my running style dramatically improved.”
The 30-year-old Fujiwara qualified for the Japan
team by finishing runner-up in Tokyo with a personal best of two hours, seven minutes, 48 seconds.
Qualification was a personal triumph for
Fujiwara, who quit a marathon squad bankrolled
by Japan Rail to go solo two years ago. He relied
on donated shoes and trained in a Tokyo park.
“I don’t have any cash but people have helped
me out in all sorts of ways, so I’ve been able to get
by,” he told Reuters under the plum blossoms in
the park.
“It was a real struggle. (Ernest) Hemingway says
in one of his short stories (‘A Moveable Feast’):
‘Hunger was a good discipline’. Well it’s exactly like
that. “Being starving, being hungry, really was
character-building.”
Fujiwara will be joined in London by Ryo
Yamamoto, 27, and Kentaro Nakamoto, 29. The
Olympics begin on July 27 with the men’s
marathon on Aug. 12. —Reuters

while Jelimo sped away on the
final lap to win the 800.
Ukraine’s Dobrynska won the
Olympic heptathlon title but has
been overshadowed by Britain’s
Jessica Ennis and Tatyana

haul of nine medals, including
two gold thanks to surprise victories for 39-year-old Yamile
Aldama in the women’s triple
jump and the women’s 4x400
relay team. —Reuters

Kauto Star leads all star cast
CHELTENHAM: The genteel Georgian
town of Cheltenham will from today
become the centre of the universe for
jump racing enthusiasts as it plays host to
the 2012 National Hunt Festival.
Cheltenham is famed for its spa but
over the next four days stout and champagne rather than water will be the liquids
of choice as racegoers from Ireland and
England descend on the Cotswolds for
jump racing’s top draw.
The feast of racing begins with the
opening day’s Champion Hurdle and concludes on Friday with the compelling Gold
Cup clash between Long Run and his
nemesis this season Kauto Star - the latter’s well-being permitting.
The Gold Cup hero in 2007 and 2009
has made a remarkable recovery from a
heavy fall when schooling last month and
barring further mishap is set to line up for
the big one. His trainer, Paul Nicholls, and
owner Clive Smith are due to make a final
decision late yesterday.
The chasing machine, who has earned
almost £2.4 million ($3.76 mn) during his
stellar career, has achieved such celebrity
status even Queen Elizabeth II was inquiring after his health last week.
The veteran, known as ‘the extra-terrestrial’ in his native France, also has his own
Facebook page with over 10,000 followers. Kauto Star is just one of a strong team
representing champion trainer Nicholls
this week. Today he has Zarkander, third
favorite in the Champion Hurdle behind
Ireland’s defending titleholder Hurricane
Fly and former winner Binocular.
Thursday sees Big Buck’s try for a
fourth consecutive World Hurdle The staying hurdle phenomenon - he’s unbeaten
over the smaller obstacles since 2008 - is
many people’s idea of the banker of the
meeting. Then on Friday, all being well,
comes the mouthwatering rematch
between Long Run and Kauto Star.
Long Run put the seven-year older
Kauto Star firmly in his place last year but
Kauto has returned this season with all

guns blazing, blasting Long Run aside in
both the Betfair Chase at Haydock in
November and in the King George VI
Chase at Kempton on December 26.
Successful in the blue riband in 2007
and 2009 Kauto Star is seeking not only to
join a rare club of triple Gold Cup winners
but also become the oldest winner of the
race since What A Myth triumphed in the
1969 edition aged 12 like Nicholls’ flagbearer.
After watching the French bred work at
Wincanton racecourse on Friday Nicholls
said: “What I like is that he’s in the sort of
nick he was in before (his victories) in the
King George and at Haydock. He looks fantastic, he’s feeling great and he’s full of
enthusiasm, and that’s what you want.”
Cheltenham has borne witness to some
gripping moments of sporting drama over
the years but if Kauto Star does run up the
famous Cheltenham hill to claim victory it
will be a story to surpass any that have
gone before.
Standing in his way though is the formidable presence of Long Run, who like
last year is being ridden by leading amateur rider and owner’s son Sam WaleyCohen.
The Nicky Henderson-trained sevenyear-old warmed up for his title defence
with a confidence boosting win at
Newbury last month, although his workmanlike defeat of stablemate Burton Port
did not seduce everyone.
But the man on board on Friday is a
believer, Waley-Cohen telling The
Telegraph last week: “I think there is more,
and better, to come from Long Run.
“To be mixing it with Kauto Star - I really hope he’s over his fall and runs next
Friday - already puts you on the doorstep
of the greats.
“The dream is not just to ride the winner of the Gold Cup but to ride a horse
who made the Gold Cup his own race. “I
honestly believe that like Kauto before
him, Long Run could be a horse of a lifetime.”—AFP

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

S P ORT S

Azarenka advances,
Kvitova bundled out

INDIAN WELLS: Roger Federer of Switzerland returns a backhand to Denis Kudla during
the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. — AFP

Nadal, Federer
ease through
INDIAN WELLS: Twice champion Rafa
Nadal and triple winner Roger Federer
barely raised a sweat as they each cruised
into the third round of the Indian Wells
ATP tournament with imperious victories
on Sunday.
Spaniard Nadal ruthlessly dealt with
Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-1 6-3 before
Swiss maestro Federer eased past
American wild card Denis Kudla 6-4 6-1 in
the evening session at the Indian Wells
Tennis Garden.
Left-hander Nadal, who has reached
the semi-ﬁnals at Indian Wells in his last
six appearances, broke Mayer twice in
each set to wrap up a commanding win in
one hour, 15 minutes.
In dazzling afternoon sunshine, the
match ended when a Mayer forehand
sailed wide and Nadal removed his green
headband in triumph as the near-capacity
crowd erupted in applause.
“It’s nice to be back playing at the very
good level,” the Spaniard, who will next
face compatriot Marcel Granollers, told
reporters. “Winning is the most important
thing.
“It’s not easy to be back after a while
without competition, but I did really well. I
started the match very focused, very
aggressive. I’m very happy about almost
everything.”
Nadal, who dominated Mayer with his
crunching ground strokes from behind
the baseline, had not competed since he
lost an epic Australian Open ﬁnal to
Novak Djokovic in January.
The world number two enjoys a superb
record at Indian Wells where he won the
title in 2007 and 2009 and was beaten in
last year’s ﬁnal by Serb Djokovic.
“This is a tournament that I love,” said
the 25-year-old from Mallorca. “I enjoy a

lot playing this tournament. Always in my
career I’ve had good success here. I have
played very good matches.”
Granollers had earlier booked his place
in the third round with a 6-3 2-6 6-3 win
against Germany’s Tommy Haas. World
number three Federer, who is shaking oﬀ
a ﬂu bug and slight temperature, broke
Kudla twice in the opening set and three
times in the second to wrap up a onesided victory in under an hour.
“I’m always relieved and happy when I
am able to ﬁnd my way into a tournament, see where you’re at,” said the 16times grand slam champion, whose entire
family has been sick.
“It’s a good start for me. I didn’t know
Kudla very much, or at all really, so it was a
good win for me. I’m looking forward to
what’s next.”
Federer, who won three consecutive
titles at Indian Wells from 2004, next faces
towering Canadian Milos Raonic, a 6-4 6-2
winner against Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq.
Asked how he felt health-wise, Federer
replied: “I have a bit of a combination (of
ﬂu and a cold). Not a terrible temperature,
but I have some things going on. But I’m
the best oﬀ in my family... the rest of them
are struggling much more.”
In other matches, ﬁfth-seeded
Spaniard David Ferrer crushed Bulgarian
Grigor Dimitrov 6-2 6-2, David Nalbandian
of Argentina battled past Croat Marin Cilic
7-6 7-6 and Serb Janko Tipsarevic beat
Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-4 6-2.
Sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
advanced when fellow Frenchman
Michael Llodra retired hurt because of a
knee injury when trailing 4-1. The bigserving Tsonga will next face Czech Radek
Stepanek, who crushed Belgium’s Xavier
Malisse 6-2 6-1. — Reuters

INDIAN WELLS: Top seed Victoria Azarenka
charged ominously into the fourth round of the
Indian Wells WTA tournament on Sunday while
third-seeded Petra Kvitova made an unexpected
early exit.
Belarusian world number one Azarenka
crushed Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1 6-2,
improving her record to 19-0 this year, but
Kvitova was ousted 2-6 6-2 6-3 by American
teenager Christina McHale.
The pony-tailed Azarenka, who was taken to
a third set tiebreak in her opening match against
Germany’s Mona Barthel, broke Kuznetsova
three times in the ﬁrst set and twice in the second to sweep through.
Serving for the match at 5-2, she went 40-15
up before double-faulting but then sealed the
win on the next point when her opponent’s
backhand ﬂew long.
“I’m really pleased with that,” a smiling
Azarenka told reporters after dispatching
Kuznetsova in one hour. “We have practised
quite a few times, and I know she’s a great player.
“She has so much experience and she’s been
a grand slam winner, so I knew she was gonna
be dangerous. “I really had to step it up from my
last match,” she added, referring to her threehour battle with Barthel. “I’m glad I could perform much better... and show some good tennis.”
Kuznetsova, who won the 2004 US Open and
the 2009 French Open, had won four of their
previous meetings but she was outplayed by the
Belarusian on a sun-splashed afternoon in the
California desert.
Azarenka, who clinched her ﬁrst grand slam
crown at the Australian Open in January, will
next meet Germany’s Julia Goerges, a 6-3 6-4
winner against Spaniard Anabel Medina
Garrigues.
Goerges, who won her second WTA singles
title in Stuttgart last year, was eager to take on
the game’s top player. “Of course, when you play
No. 1 in the world you have nothing to lose,” the
23-year-old said. “She’s a tough player, she’s just
recently won a ﬁrst grand slam and hasn’t lost so
far a match this year.
“I will just try to focus on my game and play

my game, and then I see how far it brings me. It’s
a tough challenge... but I will be ready for it.”
Kvitova made a strong start against the 19year-old McHale before errors began creeping
into her game and she was bundled out of the
tournament after a match lasting nearly two
hours. “She played very solid and she didn’t have
many mistakes,” the Czech said. “She was moving
very well, and she played a lot of shots to the
back. My serve was not too good, too, so it was
tough.”
French Open champion Li Na beat fellow
Chinese Zheng Jie 6-1 6-3, her ﬁrst victory over
her compatriot in ﬁve career meetings.
“It’s always tough to play a same-country
player because we know each other a lot,” said
Li, who became the ﬁrst Asian woman to win a

INDIAN WELLS: Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic returns a shot to Christina McHale during the
BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. — AFP

Afghanistan eye T-20
after Asia Cup snub
DUBAI: Afghanistan are determined to use
their resentment over being snubbed for the
Asia Cup to ﬁre them to a second appearance
at the World Twenty20. The Afghans are
among the favorites to land one of the two
places up for grabs at the 2012 ﬁnals in Sri
Lanka in September and October when the
16-nation qualifying tournament starts today.
But such has been the team’s remarkable
progress in recent years-from a ramshackle
unit developing a love of the sport in refugee
camps on Pakistan’s wild frontier to attaining
one-day status-that they believe they deserve
more respect.
The team are angry that they were overlooked for the Asia Cup in Dhaka this week,
where they could have faced regional powers

India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“We are not featuring in the Asia Cup, that
is really disappointing,” said hard-hitting batsman and oﬀ-spinner Mohammad Nabi, who
was the leading wicket-taker when
Afghanistan qualiﬁed for the 2010 World
Twenty20 in the Caribbean.
“How are we going to improve if we do
not play against these teams? “The ICC should
also make sure that any team that comes to
Asia for a series against Sri Lanka, Pakistan or
India also plays one-dayers or Twenty20s
against
Afghanistan,”
Nabi
told
PakPassion.net. Afghanistan will once again
be coached at the qualiﬁers by Kabir Khan,
who has returned to the hot seat, succeeding
Rashid Latif.—AFP

Six continents collide at 2012
Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
ABU DHABI: The world’s ultimate desert rally, the 2012 Abu
Dhabi Desert Challenge (30 March - 6 April) is set to feature
an even more varied line-up than ever before, with some 35
different nationalities and a record number of female competitors already signed up to tackle the towering dunes and
spectacular terrain of the formidable Liwa Desert.
With the registration deadline for the 22nd edition of one
of the world’s toughest and most popular cross-country rallies just hours away, the Automobile and Touring Club of the
UAE (ATCUAE), organiser of the race, has confirmed it has
already received entries from across six continents.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, ATCUAE President and founder
of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, said: “The Abu Dhabi
Desert Challenge is a ‘Must’ for all serious rally drivers and
riders. It is renowned for testing participants and their
machines, to their absolute limits, giving them a chance to
really prove themselves in front of their peers. That is why, in
its 22nd year, it continues to attract such a strong line-up of
entrants from around the world.”
In a significant development for the race, 2012 sees a
marked increase in entrants from South America, with competitors from Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela and Uruguay

already confirmed. By attracting growing numbers of
entrants from a continent where rallying is extremely popular, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge will further spread the
names of one the world’s most beautiful and spectacular
locations, the Western Region of Al Gharbia.
Among the contestants battling it out across the breathtaking dunes and stunning scenery of the Rub Al Khali
(Empty Quarter), there will once again be a strong contingent from right across the Middle East. Notably, the UAE’s
entrants include two of the region’s most famous rally drivers, Sheikh Abdulla Al Qassimi and 2004 FIA World Cup
champion Khalifa Al-Mutaiwei.
Al-Mutaiwei, who recently announced his return to international cross-country rallying after an eight-year absence,
will race with the celebrated German X-raid team. Another of
the region’s most experienced rally drivers, Sheikh Abdulla Al
Qassimi will take on the Desert Challenge in a Powertech
Buggy, having claimed podium places for the past two years
in the Middle East Rally Championship.
An indication of the increasing popularity of cross-country rallying among female racers, the global appeal of the
rally sees the number of participants rise to six this year.

grand slam singles title with her victory over
Italian Francesca Schiavone in Paris last year.
“We stay in the national teams so we practise
every day and travel all of the time, so it’s very
tough. But I was so happy because it’s the ﬁrst
time I beat her.
“The last meeting was six years ago, so six
years can change many things,” added Li, who is
aﬀectionately known as “Big Sister Na” and
“Golden Flower” in China.
In other matches, fifth seed Agnieszka
Radwanska of Poland eased past Italy’s Flavia
Pennetta 6-4 6-2 while Czech Klara
Zakopalova was gifted a spot in the fourth
round when Russian Vera Zvonareva became
the latest victim of a viral infection affecting
the tournament. — Reuters

Desert Challenge regular and UAE resident, Sheila HuttonBarker will again compete in a Nissan Patrol as co-driver to
her husband Ian. The Brit will be joined by contestants from
Brazil, Bulgaria, the US and Italy, including the most experienced female quad biker in the field, Camelia Liparoti.
This year riding a Yamaha Raptor 700 quad bike, Liparoti
has taken on and completed the Abu Dhabi Deser t
Challenge three times before, providing the ideal springboard to help her claim the crown of women’s champion of
the FIM Cross Country Rallies Championship for the past
three years.
The Desert Challenge is held under the patronage of H.H.
Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler ’s
Representative in the Western Region, and with support
from a number of key partners including as the Abu Dhabi
Tourism & Culture Authority, Nissan and ADNOC.
This year it serves as the FIM Cross Country Rallies World
Championship season-opener and the second round of the
FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup. It offers spectators unrivalled, free access to top-class motorsport in a number of
breathtaking settings, with dedicated, easy-to-access viewing points in the beautiful desert of Al Gharbia.

World T20
places at stake
DUBAI: International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat has called the ICC World Twenty20
qualiﬁer that begins in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
today “the biggest development event in cricket history”.
It is not an empty boast as 16 teams from cricket’s
second and third tiers will play 71 matches at ﬁve venues
over 12 days, with two places at stake in September’s
main event in Sri Lanka.
The UAE tournament follows on from 12 qualifying
events to reach this stage that took place in locations
including Ghana, Slovenia, Nepal and Florida.
The previous ICC World Twenty20 qualiﬁer in 2010
involved eight teams playing 17 matches over ﬁve days
at two venues, while last year’s ICC Cricket World Cup,
won by India, featured 49 matches and was spread over
43 days and 13 venues in three countries - Bangladesh,
India and Sri Lanka.
“The fact this qualiﬁer’s footprint, thanks to the tournament itself and the qualifying events that preceded it,
touches so many places around the world is a great sign
for the health of the game and interest in it globally,”
Lorgat told Reuters yesterday.
For the ﬁrst time, a cricket tournament involving
teams outside the world’s top 10 will have global television coverage. The ICC has reached agreements with its
oﬃcial broadcasters in Asia, Africa and the Americas to
show six matches over the ﬁnal three days at the Dubai
International Cricket Stadium. Those matches will also
be streamed live on the internet, as will 14 other matches over seven days.
The tournament lacks the abundance of big names
that Sri Lanka’s main event will contain but there is still a
sprinkling of quality on show.
Ireland will have vice-captain Kevin O’Brien, who last
year scored the fastest hundred in the history of the 50over World Cup, reaching three ﬁgures from 50 balls en
route to a 63-ball 113 that helped his side to a famous
win over England in Bangalore.
“It is massive (for us to qualify) as people in Ireland
and other countries expect us to be at every World Cup
that is on,” O’Brien told Reuters in the build-up to the
tournament. “With only two teams qualifying and with
Twenty20 being so unpredictable, it would be stupid to
rule out any team. That does bring extra pressure (on us)
but we have got a very talented team and if we play to
our strengths then hopefully that will be enough to
come out on top.”
Ireland are the pre-tournament favourites, having
reached the past two ICC World Twenty20s, in England in
2009 and the West Indies in 2010.
Their main rivals are expected to be Afghanistan,
who beat them in the ﬁnal of the qualifying event two
years ago, Canada, the Netherlands and Scotland. The
Netherlands beat 2009 hosts England in the opening
match but are without leading all-rounder Ryan ten
Doeschate this time.
Papua New Guinea are boosted by the inclusion of
Geraint Jones, the former England wicketkeeper and
part of the Ashes-winning team in 2005, who has opted
to play for the country of his birth.
“I saw playing for PNG as an opportunity to play
some international cricket again and maybe get to a
World Cup which I did not get a chance to do with
England,” Jones told Reuters from the team’s pre-tournament camp in Canberra, Australia.
Former Australia one-day international batsman
Michael di Venuto, now playing for English county side
Durham, is lining up for Italy, qualifying because he has
an Italian passport. The sides are divided into two
groups of eight with group A featuring Afghanistan, the
Netherlands, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong,
Bermuda, Denmark and Nepal. Group B is made up of
Ireland, Kenya, Scotland, Namibia, Uganda, Oman, Italy
and the US. The ﬁnal is on March 24 and admission to all
matches is free. — Reuters

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

S P ORT S

Inter’s Ranieri hopes to
cry more tears of joy

MUNICH: Basel’s German defender Markus Steinhoefer (center, left) and Basel’s
Korean defender Joo Ho Park (center, right) joke during the final team training on
the eve of the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen second leg match against
Bayern Munich.—AFP

Bayern’s hopes
on a knife edge
MUNICH: Bayern Munich’s hopes of playing in a Champions League ﬁnal in their
own stadium will be hanging on a knife
edge today as they face a 1-0 deﬁcit
against an FC Basel side unbeaten in their
last 17 outings.
Despite thrashing Hoﬀenheim 7-1 in the
Bundesliga on Saturday, Bayern are treading warily against Basel who are attempting to become the ﬁrst Swiss team to reach
the last eight of Europe’s top club competition for 33 years.
“The win over Hoﬀenheim will give us
some thrust for today,” said coach Jupp
Heynckes ahead of the second leg of the
round-of-16 tie. “The game on Saturday
was proof that we can score goals. But
Basel will not make it as easy as
Hoﬀenheim,” said Heynckes who twice led
Bayern to the semi-ﬁnals of the European
Cup during a previous stint at the club
which lasted from 1987-91.
Bayern, whose stadium hosts this year’s
ﬁnal, have won 11 of their last 12 European
games at home, yet have made a habit of
slipping up at the Allianz Arena at crucial
moments. Three of their last four
Champions League campaigns ended
when they failed to win games on home
turf. Last season, Bayern went out at the
same stage when they lost 3-2 at home to
Inter Milan, having won 1-0 away in the ﬁrst
leg. A 1-1 draw against Barcelona sent
them out 5-1 on aggregate in 2009 and
two years before that, Bayern lost 2-0 at
home to AC Milan in the quarter-ﬁnals, having drawn the ﬁrst leg 2-2 away.
Basel are unbeaten and have scored in
every match away from home in the competition this season, their most impressive
result being a 3-3 draw at Manchester
United after trailing 2-0 at halftime.
Basel coach Heiko Vogel spent nine
years working with Bayern’s youth team
before moving to Basel as assistant to
Thorsten Fink.
He was giving the senior role last year
after Fink left to join Hamburg SV and has
been an instant hit. After losing at home to
Benﬁca on his debut, Vogel’s team has

gone unbeaten for 17 games, beating
Manchester United 2-1 to qualify for the
knockout stages at their expense and also
overcoming Bayern in the ﬁrst leg.
Vogel has repeatedly played down his
Bayern connections. “It would be an unbelievable triumph if a Swiss team reached
the quarter-ﬁnals and that should be the
main thing. Beating Bayern Munich, my former employees, does not play a role,” he
said.
“We have our qualities. My team have a
deep belief in their capabilities, so we go
onto the pitch without worries no matter
who is on the other side.”
Basel’s progress has come in an otherwise miserable season for Swiss football
with the national team having failed to
qualify for Euro 2012.
Neuchatel Xamax were kicked out of the
Swiss league for a series of administrative
irregularities under Russian-born owner
Bulat Chagaev while Servette Geneva’s
future is uncertain after they ﬁled for bankruptcy 10 days ago.
FC Sion had 36 points deducted for
ﬁelding ineligible players and taking their
case to the civil court in deﬁance of FIFA
statutes which at one point led to the possibility of Switzerland being suspended
from international football.
Vogel said he was aware that his career
would not always be as smooth as it has so
far. “I’m going to make a 1,000 mistakes,” he
said. Basel will be hoping he does not start
making them on Tuesday.
Probable teams:
Bayern Munich: 1-Manuel Neuer; 21Philipp Lahm, 17-Jerome Boateng, 28Holger Badstuber, 27-David Alaba; 30-Luiz
Gustavo, 31-Bastian Schweinsteiger; 10Arjen Robben, 25-Thomas Mueller, 7-Franck
Ribery; 33-Mario Gomez
FC Basel: 1-Yann Sommer; 27-Markus
Steinhoefer, 19-David Abraham, 6Aleksandar Dragovic, 3-Park Joo Ho; 17Xherdan Shaqiri, 8-Benjamin Huggel, 34Granit Xhaka, 20-Fabian Frei; 9-Marco
Streller, 13-Alexander Frei.—Reuters

Farias stuns Boca to give
Independiente 5-4 win
BUENOS AIRES: Striker Ernesto Farias
scored a hat-trick including a brilliant lastgasp winner to give Independiente a 5-4
upset victory over Boca Juniors in a pulsating Clausura championship clash at the
Bombonera on Sunday.
Champions Boca, who conceded their
first goals in the championship, had
looked set to claim the three points having come back from two goals down after
seven minutes and 3-1 behind near the
end of the first half to lead 4-3 with one
minute to go.
But Farias struck twice in the final
stages to seal the unlikely victory for the
visitors, their first points after four opening defeats.
I t was not enough to lif t
Independiente off the bottom of the table
but brought some welcome cheer after
coach Ramon Diaz resigned following last
weekend’s home defeat by Argentinos
Juniors with Cristian Diaz taking over as
caretaker.
“You’ve always got to want it right up
to the end. The team have come away
with victory we always sought,” Farias told
broadcasters Futbol Para Todos after the
‘clasico’ between two of Argentina’s traditional Big Five clubs.
Boca, slumping to their second consecutive home defeat after they lost 2-1 to
Brazil’s Fluminense in the Libertadores
Cup on Wednesday, slipped off the top of
the standings with Tigre taking over on 13
points from five matches after a 2-0 win at
Banfield.
Independiente shocked Boca by going
in front after only 40 seconds with a goal
by midfielder Patricio Vidal and in the seventh minute defender Osmar Ferreyra
curled a free kick past goalkeeper Agustin
Orion to put them two up.
Facundo Roncaglia pulled one back in
the 13th minute when he headed home a
cross to the far post from fellow defender
Rolando Schiavi.
With playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme
trying to get a grip on midfield and dictate Boca’s fightback, Independiente

restored their two-goal advantage just
past the half hour with Farias’s diving
header.
Boca kept in touch, though, as
Riquelme pulled a cross down in first half
stoppage time and shot with the ball
going in off Ferreyra’s outstretched leg.
The champions equalised six minutes
into the second half with Roncaglia’s second goal af ter a blunder by
Independiente’s young goalkeeper Diego
Rodriguez and they went ahead after
midfielder Pablo Ledesma’s headed home
in the 75th.
Former River Plate and Porto striker
Farias, saving his best for last, equalised
when his header found the net at the far
post when defender Eduardo Tuzzio sent
in a tight cross from the right in the 90th
minute.
In the fourth minute of added time,
Farias chased a long clearance, slipped
past Schiavi and chipped Orion from just
inside the box to stun a packed
Bombonera as Boca’s unbeaten league
run ended at 33 matches. Boca will be
licking their wounds as they prepare to
face fellow Argentine side Arsenal in a key
Libertadores Cup match tomorrow having
taken only one point from a possible six
in Group Four. —Reuters

ITALY: Inter Milan coach Claudio
Ranieri believes it would be a crying shame if his improving side fail
to overturn their 1-0 deﬁcit in
today’s Champions League last-16
second leg at home to Olympique
Marseille.
Inter won their ﬁrst match in 10
games in all competitions when
two late goals sealed a 2-0 Serie A
victory at Chievo Verona on Friday
and Ranieri was so overjoyed he
had tears in his eyes.
While 2010 champions Inter are
digging themselves out of a hole,
Marseille have slipped into the mire
with four straight defeats since
their ﬁrst-leg win and Ranieri sees
an opportunity.
“Emotion is the most beautiful
thing. I do this job to feel emotions,
both positive and negative, but to
tell the truth the positive ones are
better,” he said. “I hope that today
against Marseille the San Siro will
be full and the fans will be urging
us on. It won’t be an easy game, but
we’ll try. We have a chance. Let’s try
to see what we can manage to do
with our fans behind us.”
Inter will be without suspended
defender Cristian Chivu while centre back Andrea Ranocchia and
midﬁelder Ricardo Alvarez are
injured. Ranieri’s team selection will
be hard to predict for counterpart
Didier Deschamps after the Italian
tried various formations in recent
weeks to try to stop the rot.
He played three up front in the
2-2 home draw with Catania last
weekend, when Inter’s nervousness
at home was again exposed as they
went 2-0 down, but reverted to a 43-1-2 against Chievo with playmaker Wesley Sneijder coming in.

MILAN: Olympique de Marseille’s players warm up during a training session on the eve of the Champions
League football match against Inter Milan. —AFP
Substitute Giampaolo Pazzini
replaced fellow striker Diego Forlan
and previously out-of-form Esteban
Cambiasso came on for Andrea Poli
before Walter Samuel’s and forward
Diego Milito’s late goals in Verona.
Marseille’s reversal of fortune
was unexpected given their 1-0 win
over Inter at the Stade Velodrome
last month had stretched their
unbeaten run in all competitions to
16 matches. Deschamps, a former
Juventus player and manager who
knows all about the Italian game,
rested several key players on Friday
when Marseille lost 1-0 at AC
Ajaccio.France winger Mathieu

Valbuena and holding midﬁelder
Alou Diarra came on only as second-half substitutes while Morgan
Amalﬁtano and Loic Remy played
one half as Deschamps tried to
keep his squad fresh.
“It was Didier’s decision so that
the players can be fully ﬁt on
Tuesday in Milan. I think we will be
ﬁne physically speaking,” assistant
coach Guy Stephan told the club’s
website (www.om.net).
Ghana striker Andre Ayew, who
scored the injury-time winner in
the first leg, is also likely to be fit
to play after recovering from a
shoulder injury as Marseille seek

Panigoro backs Indonesia
after govt cut off funds
SINGAPORE: Indonesia’s beleaguered football
association (PSSI) will get a shot in the arm from
a group of businessmen led by oil and gas
tycoon Ariﬁn Panigoro, who will make up a funding shortfall after the government cut oﬀ support, the PSSI has told Reuters.
PSSI Vice President Farid Rahman told Reuters
in a recent interview that Panigoro would support the organisation, which has been plagued
by inﬁghting and has been blamed for the
national team’s humiliating 10-0 defeat by
Bahrain in their World Cup qualiﬁer last month.
Indonesia were forced to ﬁeld a hugely inexperienced side after world governing body FIFA
banned them from picking any players from the
rebel Indonesian Super League (ISL), which the
PSSI has refused to recognise.
The shock result, which led to a ‘routine FIFA
investigation’, was the ﬁnal straw for the government, who opted to pull their funding last week.
“The shortfall will be covered by Ariﬁn and
other businessmen who love Indonesian football, there are several friends but he is the head
of that,” Rahman told Reuters in an interview in
Singapore.
“This shows his commitment. For the future
of Indonesia football Ariﬁn will do a lot, he is sacriﬁcing a lot in order to make Indonesian football
better.”

Rahman did not reveal how much funding
the group would provide but said the PSSI
required $40 million a year to revamp all aspects
of soccer in the country, including introducing
sports science programmes and establishing
more youth teams.
“(Ideally) the $40 million would involve money coming from government funding and TV
rights and sponsors and ticket sales,” Rahman
explained.
Rahman said the government would renew
their funding if the PSSI brings the two leagues
together, or under control at least.
FIFA wants that to happen before March 20 or
sanctions could be imposed. “Hopefully,” was
Rahman’s response when asked if Indonesia
would avoid a ban from international competition.
The PSSI has not had its troubles to seek. Last
year, under the guidance of former chairman
Nurdin Halid, the association was fortunate to
avoid suspension after failing to control the
then-rebel Indonesian League (LPI) and arrange
leadership elections.
Halid eventually left oﬃce after losing a July
election to Panigoro-backed Djohar Ariﬁn Husin
and the LPI became the PSSI’s recognised
league. However, Halid’s former deputy Nirwan
Bakrie restarted the ISL and reignited the old

problems.
Indonesia President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono said last week he could not intercede due to FIFA rules preventing government
interference but asked for the two side to reach
a resolution for the good of the nation.
Soccer is hugely popular in Indonesia but the
national team have failed to appear at a World
Cup since 1938 and missed out on qualifying for
last year’s Asian Cup. The recent 10-0 defeat left
Indonesia 147th out of 208 teams in the FIFA
rankings.
Rahman said he had no idea the mess he and
his colleagues were walking into when they took
oﬃce at the PSSI in July but said they were committed to ﬁxing the issues.
“For eight years, or maybe 16 years, there was
lots of mismanagement. The last eight years during the Nurdin Halid era, but even before then it
was not in a good condition.
“To have a better football environment in the
future we have to start from zero. It is not easy,
we have to struggle, we have to start with the
youth team development. With clean and honest fair competitions with a strong management
of the PSSI and ﬁnance ability to support these
activities. “We still need the government funding. It will be a big problem for Indonesian football (without it).”—Reuters

Ronaldinho sent off after
scoring in Flamengo win
SAO PAULO: Ronaldinho scored a goal but was
sent oﬀ in the ﬁrst half of Flamengo’s 2-0 win
over Fluminense in the Rio Cup on Sunday.
In the Sao Paulo state tournament, Palmeiras
thrashed Botafogo 6-2 with two goals by
Argentine striker Hernan Barcos. The team
moved to within a point of leader Corinthians.
Ronaldinho converted a 23rd-minute penalty,
then was shown a red card in the 40th after he
caught midﬁelder Wagner’s foot in a hard challenge. The two-time FIFA Player of the Year
received his ﬁrst yellow card eight minutes into
the match for a hard foul at Engenhao stadium.
“The referee had already told me he was
going to send me oﬀ, he told me not to make
any more fouls,” Ronaldinho said as he left the
ﬁeld. World Cup veteran Kleberson scored for
Flamengo in the 25th minute as Brazil’s most
popular club held on despite Fluminense pressuring with its man advantage.
Ronaldinho, the team’s captain, converted
the penalty with a ﬁrm low shot into the right
corner. It was his second goal in as many matches in the Rio Cup, the ﬁrst stage of the Rio de
Janeiro state championship.
Fluminense had several scoring opportunities
after Ronaldinho was sent oﬀ, but goalkeeper
Paulo Victor came up with several big saves to
keep Flamengo ahead. Victor is replacing regular
starter Felipe, who last weekend sustained head
trauma during the match and left the ﬁeld in am
ambulance. Fluminense was without some of its
top starters because of its Copa Libertadores
match tomorrow, including striker Fred and former Chelsea playmaker Deco.
Because it won the Guanabara Cup, the ﬁrst
stage of Rio’s state championship, Fluminense
has already secured a chance to play for the
overall state title against the winner of the Rio
Cup. Also Sunday, 2006 World Cup veteran midﬁelder Juninho scored a goal in Vasco’s 3-0 routing of Madureira. Vasco rested several regular
starters because it will also play in the Copa

Libertadores later this week. Botafogo of Rio de
Janeiro was held by Bangu to a 1-1 draw in Moca
Bonita on Saturday.
In the Sao Paulo state tournament, Barcos
scored in the 55th minute with a penalty kick in
second-half injury time to give Palmeiras a win
at Botafogo, extending the team’s unbeaten
streak to 19 matches. One of Palmeiras’ top signings this season, Barcos has scored seven goals
in as many matches with the eight-time national
champion. Palmeiras opened the scoring with
an own goal by Botafogo defender Marquinhos
after a header by Chile midﬁelder Jorge Valdivia
in the 23rd in Ribeirao Preto, and also got goals
from striker Maikon Leite in the 36th, substitute
striker Ricardo Bueno in the 81st and left back
Juninho in the 90th. Botafogo had Marquinhos
sent oﬀ after a second yellow card in the 60th,

and goalkeeper Juninho was shown a red card
three minutes into second-half injury time for
the foul that prompted the penalty, converted
by Barcos, the former Liga de Quito star striker.
Palmeiras reached 29 points from 13 matches, one point less than Corinthians, which on
Saturday was held by Guarani to a 1-1 home
draw at the Pacaembu stadium. Corinthians
played without many regular starters ahead of
its Copa Libertadores match again Cruz Azul in
Mexico on Wednesday.
Fourth-place Santos, also without regular
starters because of the Copa Libertadores, lost 31 at Mogi Mirim. Sao Paulo moved to third place
in the state tournament with a 2-1 win over
Portuguesa with goals by former Shakhtar
Donetsk midﬁelder Jadson and former Brazil
striker Luis Fabiano on Sunday. —AP

Lakers win Celtics thriller
LOS ANGELES: Kobe Bryant scored 10 of his 26
points in the fourth quarter and hit a go-ahead jump
shot with 41.7 seconds to play to lead the Los
Angeles Lakers to a 97-94 victory over the Boston
Celtics on Sunday. Andrew Bynum had 20 points and
14 rebounds for the Lakers, who rallied from a ﬁvepoint deﬁcit in the ﬁnal 21/2 minutes. The All-Star
center hit a short hook shot over Kevin Garnett with
15.5 seconds left, and Boston couldn’t get a good
look at a tying 3-pointer. Rajon Rondo had 24 points
and 10 assists for the Celtics, who opened an eightgame road trip by blowing a late lead. On Boston’s
ﬁnal possession, Ray Allen failed to get free for a 3pointer before Rondo badly missed a tying attempt.
76ers 106, Knicks 94
At New York, Lou Williams scored 12 of his 28
points in a dazzling third-quarter ﬂurry, and Evan
Turner had 24 points and 15 rebounds as
Philadelphia handed New York its ﬁfth straight loss.
Williams tossed in a long jumper to beat the halftime buzzer, then had a dozen points in the ﬁnal 3:28
of the third quarter, when the 76ers seized control for
their third straight victory.
Andre Iguodala had 19 points, eight assists and
seven rebounds for the 76ers, who turned a competitive game into a rout to end a three-game losing
streak to the Knicks. Carmelo Anthony scored 22
points but Jeremy Lin shot just 5 of 18 for 14 points
for the Knicks. Tyson Chandler had eight points and
12 rebounds after missing two games with a strained
left hamstring.

Cavaliers 118, Rockets 107
At Cleveland, Antawn Jamison scored 28 points
and rookie Kyrie Irving came through again in the
fourth quarter as Cleveland beat Houston.
Cleveland, which recorded a season high in
points, had six players in double ﬁgures in winning its
third straight game for the ﬁrst time this season. Luis
Scola scored a season-high 30 points to lead
Houston, which has lost six of seven.
Bucks 105, Raptors 99
At Toronto, Ersan Ilyasova had 31 points and 12
rebounds, and Drew Gooden added 21 points as
short-handed Milwaukee won its sixth straight over
Toronto. Mike Dunleavy scored 19 points, including
the go-ahead 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, as the
Bucks pulled within one game of the New York Knicks
for the ﬁnal playoﬀ spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Bucks had just 10 active players, having lost
Shaun Livingston (sprained left ankle) and Luc
Richard Mbah a Moute (right knee) in Friday’s win
over New York. Milwaukee swingman Stephen
Jackson has sidelined by a sore right hamstring since
Feb. 19. DeMar DeRozan scored 21 points and Jerryd
Bayless had 16 for the Raptors.
Magic 107, Pacers 94
At Orlando, Florida, Dwight Howard had 30 points
and 13 rebounds, and J.J. Redick added 18 points and
a career-high nine assists as Orlando ran past Indiana.
The Magic played without starters Hedo Turkoglu
and Jason Richardson, but seemed unfazed as they

built a 20-point lead in the ﬁrst half and got 30 points
from their reserves. Paul George led the Pacers with
22 points, Tyler Hansbrough added 19 and Danny
Granger 18.

ﬁrst half of the Staples Center doubleheader, put the
Clippers a full game behind their L.A. rivals in the race
for the Paciﬁc Division lead and homecourt advantage in the opening round of the playoﬀs.

Grizzlies 94, Nuggets 91
At Denver, OJ Mayo scored 22 points, including a
critical 3-pointer in the closing seconds as Memphis
hung on to beat Denver to sweep the three-game
regular-season series for the ﬁrst time in their history.
Mike Conley, who returned to play after suﬀering a
cut above his right eye, had 13 points. Dante
Cunningham added 12 points and Tony Allen 10 for
the Grizzlies, who also snapped an eight-game losing
streak in Denver. Nene, Al Harrington and Corey
Brewer each scored 15 for the Nuggets, who
dropped to 2-2 on a season-high nine-game homestand.

Hawks 106, Kings 99
At Sacramento, California, Josh Smith scored
19 of his 28 points in the second half for Atlanta,

Warriors 97, Clippers 93
At Los Angeles, Dorell Wright scored 18 of his 20
points in the ﬁrst half and Monta Ellis added 19 points
and 11 assists as Golden State knocked the Los
Angeles Clippers out of ﬁrst place in the Paciﬁc
Division. David Lee had 18 points and 10 rebounds
after spending most of the game in foul trouble,
helping the Warriors beat the Clippers on the road for
the fourth straight time despite blowing a 21-point
third-quarter lead. Blake Griﬃn had 27 points and 12
rebounds for the Clippers, who missed 16 of 35 free
throws. The loss, coupled with the Lakers’ 97-94 victory over the Boston Celtics a few hours earlier in the

Rodriguez wins stage six
ROME: Spaniard Joaquin Rodriguez of the
Katusha team won the sixth stage of the
Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race over 181km
around Oﬃda yesterday.
Chris Horner of RadioShack holds the overall
leader’s jersey ahead of the ﬁnal stage today
when he will take a 5-second lead over Czech
Roman Kreuziger and 6sec over Italian Vincenzo
Nibali into a 9.3km time trial.
As all three riders are relatively strong time
triallists, it looks to be a three-way battle to succeed Cadel Evans of Australia as the race champion. Horner’s chances of keeping his losses to a
minimum on Monday were, meanwhile, scuppered by a cunning attack by Rodriguez 1km
from the ﬁnish. The American could only ﬁnish
fourth, losing out on the six bonus seconds
picked up by Nibali for his second place ahead
of fellow Italian Danilo Di Luca.
Earlier yesterday stage four riders pulled out
of the race. Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert,
Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen, who won a
stage on Saturday, and Australia’s Matthew Goss
all withdrew citing illness.
Reigning world champion Mark Cavendish
also pulled out during the stage as he looks
ahead to challenging Milan-San Remo champion Goss for victory in ‘La Primavera’ next week, a
race Cavendish won in 2009. Meanwhile,
Bradley Wiggins’ victory in the 70th Paris to Nice

race on Sunday not only makes him its ﬁrst
British winner in 45 years, but also sets up the
prospect of his country topping the Tour de
France.
While the Team Sky rider on Sunday basked
in the glory of having equalled icon Tommy
Simpson’s 1967 victory in the Race to the Sun
here, he was clear that his triumph in the earlyseason classic was part of a longer-term strategy. “We have a plan with my training team. The
plan took oﬀ on November 1, in order to hit the
peak in July. Paris to Nice was part of that plan,”
Wiggins said. “Even if Paris to Nice was a target,
I’m probably at 95 percent form-wise, and I can
get better,” added the rider, who turns 32 in
April. “I must continue that progression to July,”
he said. The Londoner is part of a high-proﬁle
generation of British cyclists that also includes
Manxman and fellow Sky rider Mark Cavendish.
Wiggins, who ﬁnished fourth in the 2009
edition of the Tour de France, won last year’s
Dauphine, adding to a career haul that also
includes three British road titles, a trio of world
track honours and as many Olympic track golds.
“I don’t know if I’m a favorite but I’m one of
maybe ﬁve riders who can do something there,”
he said on Sunday, referring to the Tour. Wiggins
took possession of the Paris to Nice yellow jersey in Monday’s 185.5-kilometre second stage
and kept focused on matters in hand.—AFP

which defeated Sacramento for the eighth
straight time.
DeMarcus Cousins fouled out late in the game
but not before tying a season high with 28 and
adding 12 rebounds for the Kings, who had their
modest two-game win streak snapped. Joe
Johnson scored 21 points and Jeﬀ Teague had 16
points and seven assists for the Hawks.—AP

LONDON: Television footage showed some
Manchester City fans in tears after their side’s 1-0
defeat at Swansea City on Sunday cost them top
spot in the Premier League.
While their reaction was premature, City’s
hopes of winning their ﬁrst English title since
1968 now look fragile with champions
Manchester United once again displaying their
knack of accumulating victories down the home
straight. United’s 2-0 victory over West Bromwich
Albion put them a point clear with 10 games to
go and although City manager Roberto Mancini
shrugged oﬀ the signiﬁcance of defeat at
Swansea, fans will be fearing the worst.
Before United travel to City on April 30 they
have winnable home games against Fulham,
Queen Park Rangers, Aston Villa and Everton
while away trips to relegation-haunted
Wolverhampton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic
look enticing. In that same period City, for whom
the goals away from home have dried up, host
Chelsea and must also travel to a rejuvenated
Arsenal.
By the time Chelsea arrive at the Etihad
Stadium on March 21, United could already have
stolen a march in the title race with victory at
Wolves three days earlier. Bookmakers have
made United odds on favorites to retain the title

they have monopolised in the past ﬁve seasons.
City’s biggest problem appears to be in the
goalscoring department, particularly away from
home where they have found the net only twice
in their last ﬁve matches - a run that has included
1-0 defeats at Swansea, Everton and Sunderland.
“There are 10 games to go, and it’s important we
start to score and win again,” Mancini told the
club’s website (www.mcfc.co.uk). “Some players
may be tired after seven months of the season,
but I think we have a lot of energy to get back to
the top.
“It all depends on us; we have 10 games and
anything could happen. We have to be strong,
when you’re at the top it’s easy, when you’re not
you have to be strong.”
A lack of ﬁrepower could even signal a surprise return for troubled striker Carlos Tevez,
especially with Mario Balotelli’s histrionics on and
oﬀ the pitch causing problems for Mancini.
United, on the other hand, have Wayne Rooney
reaching peak form at just the right time. He
scored both goals against West Brom and has hit
nine in his last six games in all competitions. “It’s
where you want to be and it’s where you want to
ﬁnish,” Rooney told MUTV. “It’s nice to be there
now. I don’t think we’ve had the credit we
deserve over the last few months.— Reuters

Burgan Bank delivers solid results in 2011
Bank hosts annual general assembly meetings, Shafafiya Investors Forum
KUWAIT: Burgan Bank yesterday held its
annual Al-Shafafiya Investor’s forum at the
Sheikha Salwa Al-Sabah ballroom. The forum
was followed after the bank’s annual general
assembly meetings, in which members of the
board presented Burgan Bank’s financial earnings report for the year ended December 31,
2011 and agreed to a payout of 10 fils as cash
dividends while also distributing bonus shares
of 5% to registered shareholders.
Following the Annual General Assembly
meetings, Burgan Bank held its annual
Shafafiya forum which serves as a platform for

the bank’s management to present the main
events for 2011 as well as its outlook for 2012
to shareholders, partners, as well as institutional investors.
Burgan Bank’s Chairman, Majed Essa AlAjeel said: “2011 marked a period of turnaround for Burgan Bank Group. It has been a
challenging year in terms of the European
debt crisis, the contraction of the Kuwait economy and political unrest in sections of the
Middle East. Despite this, the group has delivered a net profit that is on par with its preglobal financial crisis results. Throughout the

year the group’s subsidiaries continued also to
deliver solid financial results amid political
tension across the region. Our operations in
Kuwait achieved quarter on quarter growth - a
substantial turnaround in its financial performance despite challenging local market conditions and a lower level in the implementation
of the country’s development plan.”
Eduardo Eguren, Chief Executive Officer of
Burgan Bank also noted: “Throughout the year,
the bank has maintained a strong balancesheet and healthy top-line performance and is
poised for organic and in-organic growth in

2012. The results we have achieved are a testament to the support of the Board and the
drive of the Executive Management team. In
2012 the bank will continue its focus on driving in-organic growth through strategic acquisitions whilst continuing to build local market
share to drive organic growth. In addition to
maintaining the 2011 strategic objectives, the
bank has set three primary objectives which
include gaining market share, repositioning
the Kuwait retail bank, as well as expanding
our footprint.”
The Shafafiya Forum is an annual event that

ME airlines ‘unstoppable’,
says Emirates executive

Dubai owner
mulls sale of
NY’s Essex House
DUBAI: The Dubai owner of Jumeirah Essex House, the art
deco hotel perched prominently on the edge of New
York’s Central Park, said yesterday it is putting the property
up for sale.
A subsidiary of the Dubai Holding investment company
controlled by the emirate’s ruler bought the 44-story luxury
hotel in September 2005. It has been managed by a sister
company, Dubai Holding’s Jumeirah Group hotel division,
since shortly after the acquisition.
Jumeirah said the hotel’s owner, Dubai Investment
Group, has “appointed advisers to explore opportunities”
for the property - typically a euphemism for shopping for
buyers. “Jumeirah remains confident in the value it brings
as an internationally respected luxury hotel brand and
expects that it will continue to manage the hotel after the
sale of the property,” the hotel company said.
DIG is part of a larger investment company known as
Dubai Group, which in turn is part of the sprawling Dubai
Holding firm personally controlled by Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. Dubai Holding is one
of three major holding companies in the Gulf emirate. Like
the city-state’s Dubai World conglomerate, it expanded
rapidly by taking on large amounts of debt which it then
struggled to repay as the world economy turned sour.
The emirate and its state-linked companies together
owe lenders at least $101.5 billion, credit rating firm
Moody’s Investors Service estimated in December. Dubai
Holding’s many divisions have quietly sold off assets in the
past couple of years as the emirate works to get its financial house in order.
Dubai Group, the Essex House owner, has spent more
than a year trying to convince its lenders to agree to new
terms on some $10 billion of debt it holds. No deal has
been reached yet, though the company says negotiations
are continuing.
It holds stakes in several financial companies, including
Europe’s Marfin Popular Bank, and owns commercial property in Germany and the US.
Fadel Al-Ali, Dubai Group’s acting CEO, said the company constantly reviews its portfolio of holdings and will sell
off assets if the market conditions are right. “Current global
investor demand for world-class hotel assets such as Essex
House provides a timely opportunity to capitalize on the
repositioning and operational improvements executed by
our team,” he said in a statement.
Essex House opened in 1931 at the southern end of
Central Park, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. Its red
rooftop “Essex House” sign has made the hotel a
Manhattan landmark for decades. —AP

is held amongst Kuwait Projects Company’s
(KIPCO) subsidiaries, and reflects a strong corporate governance practice, which promotes
corporate fairness, transparency and accountability. The forum provides an ideal gate to discuss financial reports and outlook as well as
market predictions openly with shareholders.
Earlier, Burgan Bank announced significantly improved financial results for the year ended December 31, 2011. The bank posted KD
50.6 million net profit, 10 times increase from
the same period of 2010 reported at KD 4.7
million.

NEW YORK: A view of Central Park is seen from the top of the Jumeirah Essex House
in New York. The Dubai owner of Jumeirah Essex House, the art deco hotel perched
prominently on the edge of New York’s Central Park, said yesterday, is considering
putting the property up for sale. —AP

Greece, Spain in focus
as euro-zone meets
BRUSSELS: Crisis-hit Greece and Spain were
in focus when euro-zone finance ministers
gathered in Brussels hoping for progress on a
firewall to protect fragile states from market
pressure.
The next step for indebted Greece will be
the release by nations sharing the single currency of 130 billion euros ($170.6 billion) of
loans to Greece, following an unprecedented
agreement last week between Athens and its
private creditors to write off 107 billion euros’
worth of debt.
Diplomats told AFP that the Eurogroup of
finance ministers, meeting from 5:00 pm
(1600 GMT), was unlikely to begin releasing
the promised loans to Greece these talks. The
next phase in the Greek government’s second
bailout will be the subject of separate teleconference talks later this week as ministers
need first to define the exact level of
International Monetary Fund participation in
the rescue, the diplomats said.
However, “there are no doubts that the
decision will be taken, the program is not in
question,” stressed one euro-zone governmental source. Neither will the ministers at
yesterday’s talks take decisions on a giant gap
in Spain’s public finances-a gap the size of a

small bailout. German Finance Minister
Wolfgang Schaeuble and Spanish counterpart Luis De Guindos however will meet
head-to-head before the talks.
European partners want to know precisely
why the Spanish government now tips its
deficit to reach 5.8 percent of gross domestic
product (GDP) this year, when it was meant to
fall to 4.4 percent of GDP under a target
agreed with the European Union. Diplomats
say Madrid blames autonomous regional governments for overspending. Overspending
last year amounted to 90 billion euros, and
the scale of Spanish budget slippage this year
will be almost as high. However, Madrid has
still to present its full 2012 budget to EU partners next month and Spain could eventually
be given leeway on 2012 provided it commits
to meet the EU’s 3.0-percent of GDP ceiling as
planned by 2013.
“We think that such a course of action is
reasonable,” said London-based analyst Gilles
Moec of Deutsche Bank in a note to investors.
“Given the country’s still relatively favorable
debt position, we think that a crash fiscal
retrenchment should not be the government’s top priority,” at a time of rampant
unemployment and recession.— AFP

PARIS: A top Emirates executive has delivered a warning to Europe’s struggling airlines
that they could lose more business to booming Middle East carriers as they pay the price
of years of political neglect. Thierry Antinori,
who walked away from the top job at
Austrian Airlines to join the largest Arab carrier last year, said airlines such as Emirates were
well placed to continue expanding while
some rivals lurched into a downward spiral of
investment.
“I think with our geographical position
and the quality of products and networks we
are offering, there is clearly an opportunity
for the Middle East airlines to strengthen their
position on the global industry map,” he told
Reuters.
“I even consider the next years as an
opportunity for Emirates to increase the gap
with some of our competitors, because we
are just looking at what the customer wants.”
The Frenchman dismissed the possibility that
Dubai-based Emirates would step in to bail
out or buy European airlines and repeated its
reluctance to join one of the major alliances.
In December, Gulf rival Etihad Airways of
Abu Dhabi took a stake of almost 30 of
Germany’s Air Berlin. There are also reports
that Etihad is interested in holding talks with
the Irish government over the sale of its 25
percent stake in Aer Lingus.
“We prefer to rely on our product, so we
prefer to buy airplanes than airlines,” the
Emirates official said. “We do not lose time in
discussion with alliances, which are not very
clear for the customer to understand. They
say ‘we offer you seamless travel’ but in the
end they offer seamless trouble,” said
Antinori, who joined Emirates as Executive
Vice President, Passenger Sales Worldwide, in
September. Antinori’s decision to defect from
Lufthansa came days before he was due to
become chief executive of loss-making
Austrian and took the industry by surprise. Six
months later, he has a blunt assessment of
the malaise gripping European airlines, half a
dozen of which have gone bankrupt this year.
“Aviation was made a strategic industry in
Dubai 20 years ago. In Europe it is not strategic and it is not important for politicians to
win elections. That is why airline lobbying is
not heard, investments are blocked, taxes are
increasing and as a result airlines do not have

Emirates Airlines Executive Thierry
Antinori
modern fleets and then they save money on
products.”
Recent aircraft improvements have put
most of the world’s population within a direct
flight from the Gulf, resulting in airport and
fleet expansion and shifting more of the
global network map to large hubs such as
Dubai from the US and Europe.
“You cannot stop the Middle East airlines
because they are in the centre of the world;
they have the best infrastructure... and never
save money on product,” Antinori said.
“That is the big difference with Europe
(where) there is no strategy, and because of
that they reduce the quality and the infrastructure, and the fleets become older.”
The critique of European aviation policy
comes as the industry faces tough battles
over airport expansion in the UK or a new system of European Union charges for jet emissions-two issues that also affect airlines in the
Gulf and elsewhere.
Antinori said the EU’s emissions trading
scheme would cost Emirates 40 million
euros in 2012, rising to half a billion in 2020,
and this would ultimately mean higher ticket prices. Emirates meanwhile remains
locked in a battle over access to Germany,
where it has long sought to secure landing
rights in Berlin and Stuttgart, as well as
access in Canada.—Reuters

22

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

business

Qatar FY budget won’t
expand much: Minister
Revenues sufficient to cover budget
DOHA: Qatar’s state budget for next fiscal year
will be roughly the same size as the current
year’s budget, finance and economy minister
Youssef Kamal said yesterday.
“It will be the same size as the prevailing
budget, maybe a little increase,” he told
reporters.
Previously, an economic adviser to the country’s Amir had said last month that budget
spending for the 2012/13 fiscal year, which starts
on April 1, would be much higher than in the
current year. Kamal did not explain the contradictory statements or give details. Last week,
Qatar’s state news agency, citing a decision by
the cabinet, reported that the deadline for
releasing the state budget for the coming fiscal
year would be pushed back to the end of May
because of changes to the government’s
accounting system and the way it prepares
budgets. The annual budget is usually

AirAsia X to
call off New
Zealand service
KUALA LUMPUR: The long-haul arm of
budget carrier AirAsia said yesterday it
would axe flights to New Zealand, its latest
move to shed unprofitable routes and refocus on the group’s core Asian market.
Malaysia-based AirAsia X, which will cut
its four-weekly flights to Christchurch, has
already announced plans to cease service to
London, Paris and Delhi this month, after
scrapping flights to Mumbai in January.
AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani said in a
statement that jet fuel prices had risen more
than 30 percent since Christchurch routes
began in April 2011.
“The high cost of fuel has compromised
our ability to offer our renowned low fares,”
he said. The move was part of the carrier’s
drive to consolidate operations on its “core
markets” of “Australia, China, Taiwan, Japan,
Korea and Iran”, he said.
Former record industry executive Tony
Fernandes plucked ailing AirAsia from its
deathbed in 2001 and quickly turned it into
one of the aviation sector’s biggest successes. Fernandes established a successful template for AirAsia that included flying into
secondary airports in major cities, with their
lower landing costs.
Its network spread quickly in Southeast
Asia and Fernandes in 2007 launched
AirAsia X to serve long-haul routes to China,
India and eventually Europe.
But the group’s recent pull-back from
the longer routes has indicated they were
bleeding money. AirAsia X will now focus
on medium-haul flights within Asia, while
main carrier AirAsia continues with routes
up to four hours’ flight from its Kuala
Lumpur hub.
AirAsia said last month its 2011 profits
were halved to $186 million, citing rising
fuel costs. The AirAsia group now currently
serve about 80 cities in more than 20 countries. — AFP

announced by April 1. In its 2011/12 budget, the
world’s top liquefied natural gas exporter originally planned spending worth 139.9 billion riyals
($38.4 billion) and a surplus of 22.5 billion riyals,
or 4.9 percent of gross domestic product.
Partly in response to political unrest elsewhere in the Middle East, Qatar hiked basic
salaries and social benefits for the state’s civilian
employees by 60 percent last September, while
military staff received 50-120 percent rises. The
International Monetary Fund estimated such
extra social spending would add $1.6 billion to
expenditure in 2011/12.
Kamal said government revenues were quite
sufficient to cover its budget, but that would not
preclude debt issues by the government this calendar year. “Last year we were on the market-we
issued some bonds internationally and locally.
Revenue for the state exceeds the budget but
that doesn’t mean we don’t have a plan to be on

the market once or twice a year,” he said.
“We want to create a yield and give a benchmark to other institutions. Government issuance
last year helped create a benchmark for QNB
(Qatar National Bank) and Doha Bank.”
In January last year, the government sold 50
billion riyals worth of domestic bonds; it issued
$5 billion of bonds internationally last
November. Kamal reiterated previous statements by government officials that inflation was
expected to be between 3 and 3.5 percent this
calendar year.
The government is not concerned about
controlling inflation, partly because debt issues
can be used to limit inflationary pressure, he
said. Economists believe last year’s domestic
issues of domestic government bonds and
Treasury bills were intended partly to limit inflation by draining excess funds from the banking
system. — Reuters

Abu Dhabi tries merger
to end property mess
DUBAI: Abu Dhabi is trying a new tack in its
property bailouts. To end the misery at Aldar,
the emirate’s top state backed developer, the
government has initiated a merger with smaller rival Sorouh. Aldar has already sucked up
$10 billion in emergency funds, equivalent to
the amount funneled to Dubai at the height of
its debt crisis. Creating a single developer
could make sense, depending on the terms of
the deal. But in any case Abu Dhabi, which
also owns 20 percent of Sorouh, will have to
work hard to protect its majority independent
shareholders.
Two successive lifelines have left Aldar 49
percent owned by state-investment vehicle
Mubadala, which is eager to ease the developer off its books. Putting it together with
Sorouh would reduce Mubadala’s stake and
create a developer with $15 billion worth of
assets.
The hope is clearly that the new enlarged
company will be better run than Aldar.
Furthermore, both companies would stop
competing for the same projects, most of
them government contracts.
Yet uncertainty over the structure and
terms of the deal makes shareholder enthusiasm for a government-blessed merger at least
premature. Based on Sunday’s closing price, a
share swap would result in a 60/40 split of the
new company in favor of Aldar. But a split of
44/56 in favor of Sorouh, which is more conservatively-run than its rival, might be more
appropriate based on 12-month fair value estimates from EFG-Hermes.
A merger will also ease Aldar’s short-term
financing position and give it a broader asset
backing for its debt. The enlarged balance
sheet would have had net debt worth 108 percent of equity at the end of 2011, compared to
Aldar’s current net debt worth around 200
percent.
Aldar expects its net debt would fall to

around one sixth of its current level by 2015,
once the full impact of the government
bailouts has kicked in.
But the deal wouldn’t be enough to fix Abu
Dhabi’s ailing property market, where prices
continue to fall amid fresh supply. To achieve
that, Abu Dhabi would need to extend the
merger to include other smaller developers. In
the meantime, the majority owners of Sorouh,
who won’t really have the option of opposing
a merger, don’t have much to grasp in the way
of protection.
But given that foreigners account for
around 12 percent of the register, Abu Dhabi
has a serious incentive to not run rough-shod
over independent shareholders.
Abu Dhabi’s Aldar Properties said on March
11 that it was in talks to merge with local-rival
Sorouh Real Estate in a state-backed deal. A
merger of the No 1 and 2 developers in the
emirate will create one of the largest property
firms in the region by assets with more than
54 billion dirhams ($15 billion). The companies
said a special team will study a merger and
provide recommendations to the senior management of both companies within the next
three months.
In 2009, debt-laden Dubai Holding was in
talks to merge four local real estate companies
including Emaar Properties, Dubai Properties,
Sama Dubai and Tatweer.
The merger wasn’t completed after studies
by the board of Emaar Properties questioned
the economic feasibility of a tie-up. Last year,
Dubai lender Emirates NBD took over smaller
troubled rival Dubai Bank under orders from
Dubai’s ruler.
Shares in Aldar and Sorouh rose 10 percent
yesterday, following the announcement.
Aldar is 49 percent owned by state-owned
investment vehicle Mubadala. Sorouh is
around 20 percent owned by government
entities. — Reuters

MUMBAI: An Indian passenger enquires at the Kingfisher Airlines booking counter in
the domestic terminal in Mumbai. India’s beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines yesterday
cancelled more flights after staff went on unofficial strike over unpaid wages, dealing another blow to the carrier. — AFP

Troubled Kingfisher
scraps more flights
MUMBAI:
India’s
beleaguered
Kingfisher Airlines cancelled dozens of
flights yesterday, including at least one
international route, after staff went on
unofficial strike over unpaid wages.
Kingfisher said that its schedule was
also affected after the company was suspended last week by the International
Air Transport Association (IATA) from a
global payments system. The airline
issued a statement blaming “employee
agitation on delayed salaries” and the
IATA suspension for the cancellations,
which it said would hit about 20 percent
of its already reduced service.
It did not say how many flights were
affected during the day, but a Mumbai
airport spokesman said 11 flights from
Mumbai had been cancelled. Several
other airports including New Delhi were
also hit yesterday and at least one international flight, a 7:00 pm service from
Delhi to Dubai, was among the flights
scrapped.
Kingfisher, which has never turned a
profit and has sunk deeper into debt
since its launch in 2005, has often run a
reduced flight schedule in recent weeks
amid growing fears for its survival. The
carrier, controlled by Indian liquor baron
Vijay Mallya, owes suppliers, lenders and
staff millions of dollars.

Mallya told The Week magazine published on Monday that the airline needed $200-250 million immediately to
secure its future, and he pushed for foreign ownership restrictions to be lifted
in the aviation sector.
“Additional equity can and must be
part of the plan,” Mallya said. “That is
why I have been requesting the government to reconsider its ban on foreign
airlines investing.” “I have never asked
the government for a rupee... (but) the
airports are government-owned. The
fuel supplier is government-owned. The
banks are government-owned. It’s in
their hands,” he said.
Mallya pointed to high fuel prices,
taxes and the plunging rupee as being
responsible for the current crisis-not
bad management. Kingfisher’s bank
accounts have been frozen by Indian
authorities due to non-payment of taxes, and at least 60 pilots have already
left the airline to work with rivals
according to the Press Trust of India
news agency.
The airline’s net loss widened
sharply to 4.44 billion rupees ($88 million) in the three months to December
from a loss of 2.54 billion rupees a year
earlier, while its debt totals at least $1.3
billion. — AFP

Doroo’ Holding formed
with KD1.360m capital
KUWAIT: Kuwait Gazette announced yesterday establishment of Doroo’ Holding
Company, with a capital of KD 1.360 million. It was incepted as a Kuwaiti closed
shareholding company with a capital of KD
1.360 million, distributed over 13.608 million shares, each valued at 100 fils, the
gazette said in its latest edition.
The company owns shares in Kuwaiti or
foreign shareholding companies, besides
stocks or stakes in Kuwaiti or foreign limit-

ed liability companies, takes part in establishment of these two types of companies
and management and lending and acting
as guarantor for others with no less than 20
percent participation of the holding company in the borrowing company. The company owns industrial property rights of
patents, industrial trademarks, royalties or
any other related rights, or hires them for
other companies for use in Kuwait and
abroad. — KUNA

stounding progress has been
made on the vision to transform
the Middle East into a global
crossroads - a diversified economic and
transportation hub, with cities such as
Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha forming a
nexus for the flying world between
north and south, east and west.
Yet, the aviation industry today is
facing a challenge to that progress that
is going to require equal vision and initiative to overcome - meeting the
growing demand for people in aviation.
As airlines in the Middle East build
on their success, they are expanding
their fleets. In fact, according to the
most recent Boeing Current Market
Outlook (CMO), more than 2,500 airplanes are expected to be ordered by
airlines in the region over the next 20
years.
The thousands of new airplanes
required to support this growth will
need a corresponding supply of hundreds of thousands of pilots and maintenance technicians. Boeing recently
released the 2011 Pilot and Technician
Outlook, predicting a global need for
460,000 new commercial airline pilots
and 650,000 maintenance technicians
over the next 20 years.
The implications of this report are
significant for the Middle East: 36,600
new pilots and 53,000 new skilled
maintenance personnel are required to
staff the region’s airlines between now
and 2030.
But traditional infrastructure that
once supported careers in aviation is
diminishing, along with the corresponding philosophies and methodologies.
That means the current ability to
attract, recruit, educate, train and retain
people is not sufficient to meet
demands. It is a situation that threatens
to limit the amazing opportunities for
travel and economic growth..
In fact, the need is increasingly
urgent. Emirates recently recruited
more than 500 new pilots and, like
Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, is
facing a limited pipeline of personnel in
the region. Successful low-cost carriers
such as flydubai, Air Arabia and Jazeera
Airways are also growing at a fast pace
and are facing the same challenges
their full-service counterparts are.
For a fast-growing region, resources
are critical, and none more so than
human capital. It comes as little surprise that Etihad Airways, for instance,
one of the world’s youngest, yet fastestgrowing full-service airlines, was quick
to leverage the untapped local expertise of female pilots. Airlines are also
looking farther afield, recruiting pilots
from other airlines and other regions of
the world.
In this social media era, in order to
engage the employees of today and
tomorrow, all of the Middle Eastern aviation powers are reaching out to the
world with fan pages and accounts via
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. But
considering other regions of the world
are using similar tactics, and given the
shrinking pool of pilots to recruit from,
we can’t expect that this tactic will succeed in the future.
The Middle East may have fewer
ageing airplanes to replace compared

with other regions of the world, but the
demand for pilots and technicians in
the region is growing just as rapidly as
elsewhere due to rapid expansion and
investment in new-generation airplanes such as the Boeing 777, 747-8
and 787 Dreamliner.
These new jetliners may just give the
industry a chance to radically change
the way it attracts, teaches and trains. It
will take a new approach, which, like
the newest jetliners and the younger
generation which forms much of the
industry’s human resource pool, is
highly digital.
It starts with online and mobile
device-based training, which not only
saves paper, but more importantly,
appeals to today’s students. These new
“recruits” are significantly more techsavvy. The industry needs to acknowledge the generational and technology
changes shaping the lives of today’s
young people and adapt aviation training methodologies, philosophies, tools
- and even the instructors - themselves
to these new realities.
One new methodology is MPL (multi-crew pilot license), a program
designed to train an individual with no
flight experience to be qualified as a
first officer on a commercial jet. It is
focused on performance and competence and is the way many pilots
around the world will be trained in the
future.
Boeing estimates it’s going to take
more than one thousand new pilot
instructors each year to do the job.
Clearly, the industry is going to have to
partner with airlines, schools and other
training providers to find creative ways
to meet this urgent need.
Research shows that the instructor
plays a critical role in learning and performance. In the future, aptitude will
take precedence over flying hours for
the next wave of flight instructors.
There is also a need to formally
establish and upgrade global requirements of Certified Instructors at aviation training academies and schools
around the world.
Overall, it will take an industry-wide
effort reaching into schools and universities to generate excitement about
careers in aviation.
It’s a great time to be in the aviation
industry. Markets are growing and
technology is advancing. New-generation airplanes make the world smaller
and smaller by the day. We need to
support and sustain this growth by
working hard to make our industry
more eye-catching for the young, the
talented, the creative and the professional.
The Middle East is a world air transport hub thanks to a vision and commitment decades in the making. We
need similar vision and commitment
now to deliver vital people resources
to the aviation industry. It’s the only
way to transform the ambitions of the
region’s airlines into reality and ensure
an engaged and highly- qualified
workforce for the future. — Sherry
Carbary is vice president of Boeing
Flight Ser vices, a business unit of
Commercial Aviation Services, Boeing
Commercial Airplanes.

Italy in recession,
headache for PM
ROME: Italy is in recession, final data confirmed yesterday, underscoring the difficulties facing Mario Monti’s technocrat government as it grapples with a shrinking
economy dragged down by austerity measures and a debt crisis. Italy’s economy
shrank 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of
2011, following a 0.2 percent decline in
gross domestic product in the third quarter.
Monti, who rushed through a 33 billion
euro austerity plan in December and is now
working on reforms to boost growth, is due
to meet Germany’s Chancellor Angela
Merkel today for talks in Rome. Germany’s
economy contracted by 0.2 percent in the
fourth quarter, but analysts are expecting
Europe’s largest economy to pick up steam
again this year, while Italy is seen lagging.
Weak consumption in the euro zone’s
third largest economy weighed heavily in
the fourth quarter, while investments and
inventories also declined but net exports
contributed positively.
“Domestic demand is the weakest link,
the area hardest hit by fiscal tightening,”
said Paolo Mameli from Intesa Sanpaolo,
who said GDP would likely decline by a
similar rate in the first quarter of 2012.
Italy’s national statistics office ISTAT said
GDP fell 0.4 percent year-on-year in the
fourth quarter, revising a preliminary estimate of a 0.5 percent fall.
The data lagged a euro zone average of
-0.3 percent quarter on quarter and 0.7 percent year-on-year. Economic indicators are
pointing to a further slowdown for most of

2012 in Italy, which has been the most
sluggish economy in the euro zone over
the last decade.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said yesterday
there were tentative signs of economic
improvement in the euro-zone. Analysts
polled by Reuters in January expected GDP
to shrink by about 0.6 percent in the first
quarter of this year.
Data last week showed industrial output
was much weaker than expected in
January, plunging 2.5 percent and marking
an extremely poor start to the year. The
Bank of Italy forecasts a 1.5 percent fullyear contraction in 2012, far steeper than
the government’s official projection of -0.4
percent.
Monti’s austerity measures including
spending cuts, tax hikes and pension
reform and are aimed at balancing the
budget in 2013, though critics say they will
weigh on Italy’s already chronically low
growth rates. Market concerns about the
sustainability of the country’s 1.9 trillion
euro public debt have calmed since Monti
replaced Silvio Berlusconi in November and
yields on Italy’s 10 year bonds have fallen
to below 5 percent from peaks close to 8
percent at the end of 2011.
Monti is now working on measures to
stimulate the economy, and his government is due to meet with unions and
employers yesterday to discuss a labor market reform to follow deregulation measures
announced in January. — Reuters

Kuwait capital spending
slightly off in FY2011-12
NBK economic report
KUWAIT: Total Kuwait government spending reached KD 8.3
billion for the 9 months of fiscal
year (FY11/12), 2% above the previous comparable period.
Demand-impacting spending
stood at KD 5.1 billion, up 3.3%
y/y.
Total revenues reached KD 21.4
billion, up a strong 42% y/y, mainly due to higher oil prices. Three
quarters into the fiscal year, revenues are already at 159% of the
full year budget. The conservative
oil price assumption of $60 pb
compared to an actual average of
$107 pb for the nine-month period is behind this discrepancy
between budgeted and actual
revenues. So far, Kuwait’s budget
reveals a massive surplus of KD
13.1 billion. We forecast a KD 9-10
billion surplus for the entire fiscal
year, as spending typically accelerates later in the year.
Nine months into FY11/12,
Kuwait has spent 43% of its full
year budget, slightly below its 5year average for comparable periods. Both actual spending and
reporting usually pick up in the
last fiscal quarter.
Spending on chapter 1, wages

and salaries, reached KD 2 billion,
up 15% from the comparable
period of FY10/11. Salary hikes
that were approved last year by
the government, on top of the
usual annual raises, were behind
the stronger spending on this
chapter. At 44% of budget, spending on this chapter is slightly
ahead of the historic average.
Spending on chapter 2, goods
and services, were KD 1.5 billion,
up 7.2% y/y. The increase came
mostly from the cost of fuel
incurred by the Ministry of
Electricity and Water (MEW ),
which normally makes up more
than two thirds of this category.
Spending on chapter 3, vehicles and equipment, was KD 62
million, down 10.7% y/y. This
chapter remains a small (and
volatile) spending category with
minimal impact on aggregate figures. Nine months into FY11/12,
spending on the more closely
watched chapter 4, projects,
maintenance and land purchases,
reached KD 815 million, down
11% compared to the previous
comparable period. At 34% of
budget, spending on this chapter
seems more or less in line with

the historic average.
Chapter 5, transfers and miscellaneous expenditures totaled KD
4 billion, slightly off compared to
the same period of FY10/11. The
decline was primarily driven by
lower subsidies and other transfers, though it was partially offset
by larger transfers to social security (PIFSS). At 43% of budget,
spending on this chapter seems
to be falling behind historic
trends mostly due to delays in
other transfer payments and miscellaneous expenditures.
Revenues reached KD 21.4 billion, well above the budget figure
for the full year. The increase was
largely driven by strong oil
receipts. Kuwait export crude
(KEC) averaged around $107 pb in
the first 9 months of FY11/12
compared to an average of $83
pb during the same period of
FY10/11.
Non-oil revenues totaled KD
1.3 billion, up 12% y/y. The
increase came mostly from “miscellaneous revenues and fees”
likely related to compensation
payments from the United
Nations
Compensation
Commission (UNCC). Meanwhile,

“land sales” and “property fees”,
though small categories, saw
good growth likely related to
improved real estate sales this
year.
Recent early press leaks on the
FY2012/2013 budget cited total
spending of KD 22 billion, a 13.2%
increase y/y. Spending on chapter
1, wages and salaries is expected
to rise 6.1% to KD 4.7 billion.
Chapter 2, goods and services,
spending is projected to reach KD
4.2 billion, up 45%. The sharp rise
in this category would come
almost exclusively from the
increase in spending on fuel by
MEW (oil prices assumed at $65
vs. $60 in FY11/12). Chapter 4
spending is also projected to
increase a notable 23% reaching
KD 3 billion. FY12/13 will mark the
3rd year of the development plan
and capital spending should nearer to “full pace.”
Chapter 5, transfers and miscellaneous expenditures, is expected
to total KD 9.5 billion, up 3.8%.
The final budget, which may see
major amendments, is not expected to be approved for a couple of
months, now that a new government has been formed.

China CB sees
room to ease
lending curbs
BEIJING: The head of China’s central bank said
yesterday it has room to ease lending curbs to
support economic growth but any changes
would be gradual. The rapid growth of the
world’s second-largest economy has slowed over
the past year as Beijing tightened controls to
prevent overheating. Chinese leaders have
responded to a decline in global demand by
promising pro-growth policies, and companies
and investors are closely watching what steps
they will take.
There is scope to lower the level of reserves
Chinese banks are required to hold - a move
that would free more money for lending to businesses - after the minimum level was raised five
times in 2010 and 2011, said Gov. Zhou
Xiaochuan of the People’s Bank of China. The
minimum stands at 20 percent of deposits for
China’s biggest lenders. “We have a lot of room
to adjust the reserve ratio. On the other hand, it
is necessary to see whether there is a necessity
to adjust,” Zhou said at a news conference during
the annual meeting of China’s legislature. He
gave no indication when regulators might lower
reserves.
“We need to take in to consideration the different restriction factors and we need to see the
advantages and disadvantages of adjustment,
especially its impact on financial flows,” Zhou
said.
Zhou and other officials at the event said the
central bank will closely watch Europe’s debt crisis and other global factors that might hurt the
Chinese economy. But they emphasized that on
a wide range of issues, policy changes will be
gradual and cautious. “Our monetary policy will
have to follow conditions in China and also internationally. We will cope with problems responsibly,” Zhou said.
China’s economic growth eased to 8.9 percent
in the final quarter of 2011 from the previous
year’s double-digit expansion. The government’s
growth target this year is 7.5 percent.
The latest trade data show both Chinese and
global demand weakening. Figures released on
Saturday showed export growth in the combined January-February period slowed to 6.9
percent, compared with December’s 13.4 percent. Analysts often combine the two months to
screen out disruption from the Lunar New Year
holiday, which falls at different times in that period each year.
Growth in impor ts for the two months
declined to 7.7 percent from December’s 11.8
percent.
Also yesterday, central bank officials said
Beijing will press ahead with reforms to ease
controls on its tightly regulated currency and
give market forces a bigger role in setting the
yuan’s exchange rate, but they gave no details.
“We will continue with the reform to have an
exchange-rate regime that is more marketbased,” said Yi Gang, the deputy bank governor
in charge of foreign currency. Washington and
other trading partners complain an undervalued
yuan gives China’s exporters an unfair price
advantage and swells its trade surpluses. Some
American lawmakers want to raise tariffs on
Chinese goods if Beijing fails to end its controls.
Yi and other officials did not respond to a question about whether Beijing believed the yuan
has reached its fair value after its gradual rise
against the dollar stopped in recent months and
China reported an unexpectedly large $31.5 billion trade deficit for February. Yi also expressed
confidence in the ability of Europe, China’s
biggest trading partner, to solve its debt crisis.
He said China will continue to invest in Europe,
though he stressed that minimizing risk will be a
priority. He gave no indication whether Beijing
has decided to contribute to a bailout fund for
countries that use the euro. “ We believe
European countries will be able to cope with the
euro crisis,” Yi said. “We will continue to invest in
Europe as a responsible investor.” — AP

HYDERABAD: An Indian laborer wipes clean a poster of India Aviation 2012
show at Begumpet airport in Hyderabad yesterday. The third edition of India
Aviation, a five-day event scheduled to run from March 14-18, some 250 companies will showcase the latest global aerospace technology offering business
opportunities in India. — AFP

India industrial output
strongest in 7 months
Government eyes return to stronger growth path
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Indian industrial output in January grew at its
fastest pace in 7 months while car
sales hit a record high in February,
signs of a rebound for India’s flagging
economy, although both figures were
boosted by one-off factors.
Output at factories, mines and utilities grew 6.8 percent from a year earlier, notoriously volatile data showed,
the highest since June 2011, reinforcing expectations the central bank will
wait until April before cutting interest
rates. Separately, the government
said it was confident of returning to
8-9 percent annual GDP growth soon.
The economy is set to grow at around
7 percent in the fiscal year that ends
this month, its slowest in three years.
The Reserve Bank of India holds a
monetary policy review on Thursday
and is expected soon to begin cutting
interest rates after raising them 13
times bet ween M arch 2010 and
October 2011. On Friday night, it surprised markets with a 75 basis point
cut in the cash reserve ratio for banks.
Economists on average had
expected industrial growth of 2.1 percent, a Reuters poll showed. The
Januar y figure compares with a
revised annual rise of 2.5 percent in
December.
“The central bank is certainly going
to wait for the budget and the government’s borrowing program for the
next year and what is going to be the
(fiscal) deficit number. That is why we
believe the rate decision will happen
in April,” said Ashok Gautam, global
head of markets at Axis Bank in
Mumbai.
The RBI has another policy review
set for April 17.
M anufac turing output, which
makes up three-quarters of industrial
output, grew an annual 8.5 percent in
January, fuelled by a 42.1 percent
surge in produc tion of consumer
non-durable goods, including beverages and food products, thanks to big
spending ahead of state elections.
“This has happened because of a
boost from the election campaigns
where all these political parties supply food produc ts and beverages
such as alcohol for free and they do it

for some months,” said PINC Research
analyst Naveen Trivedi. Capital goods
production, a proxy for investment,
remained weak, falling 1.5 percent
from a year earlier in its fifth straight
month of decline.
“In the coming months we have to
build up so that capital goods’ production, which is very disappointing,
is fixed up. We shall have to make
effor ts for that,” Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee told reporters after
the industrial data.
Car sales in February rose 13 percent annually, the biggest rise in 10
months, as buyers rushed to showrooms ahead of a federal budget
expected to lift the cost of car ownership.
Indian automakers sold 211,402
cars in February, data released by the
S ociet y of I ndian Automobile
Manufacturers (SIAM) showed, the
biggest ever monthly total.
“A lot of people wanted to buy
their cars before the budget, because
they expect prices to go up after the
budget,” Vishnu Mathur, director general of SIAM, told reporters.
The benchmark 10-year 8.79 percent, 2021 bond yield rose 2 basis
points to 8.28 percent after the industrial data release. Five-year and oneyear swap rates rose 4 basis points
each before retreating.
India’s December quarter economic growth slowed to 6.1 percent, its
weakest annual pace in almost three
years, as high interest rates and rising
input costs constrained investment
and manufacturing. The Indian government, whose economic forecasts
have proven optimistic, expec ts
growth to return to its earlier sharp
trajectory. The Indian economy grew
more than 9 percent for three years
until 2007/08, and at an annual 8.4
percent in the last two fiscal years.
“ The long-term fundamentals of
the Indian economy remain robust,”
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil
told lawmakers. Mukherjee, who will
present the federal budget on Friday,
is expected to set a target of 7.5 percent to 8 percent economic growth
for the 2012/13 fiscal year starting
April 1. — Reuters

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

business

Kuwait equities mixed
GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT
KUWAIT: Kuwaiti equities ended
yesterday’s session on a mixed
note as investors became globally
cautious after weak data in China
partially offset a strong US jobs
report last week.
The Global General Index ended the day up by 0.26 percent at
183.52 points. However, the market has inched higher by 1.41 percent so far in March. KSE
Weighted Index was up by 0.26
percent at 415.09 points. The
market benchmark, KSE Price
Index recoiled by 4.2 points (or
0.07 percent) to close at 6,150.2
points. The market’s heavyweights staged a session of
steady performance. The Global
Large Cap Index ended the day
up by 0.55 percent, at 190.29
points.
The performance was accompanied by a mixed trading activity. Volume of shares traded on
the exchange increased by 2.85
percent, at 431.28mn shares.
Investment groups accounted for
139.22mn shares (32.28 percent)
of the market’s total volume.
International Financial Advisors
(IFA) was the most actively traded
stock, with 50.52mn shares
changing hands. Ahlia closed flat
yesterday.
In terms of top gainers, Future
Communications Co Global was
the top gainer for the day, adding
9.43 percent. Industrial &
Financial Investments Company
was the biggest loser, as its share
price fell by 8.77 percent to close
at KD0.026.
Sectors
On a sector-by-sector basis,
four out of the eight sectors
inched higher during the day.
Services and Real Estate stocks
spearheaded advancers, with the
sectors indices adding 0.52 percent each. National Mobile

Telecommunications Co. extended its winning streak to three-sessions, with today’s 4.63 percent
improvement. Aayan Real Estate
Company was up by 4.76 percent.
Earlier, The company announced
that its 31.5 percent owned subsidiary, Hajar Tower Real Estate
Company, has sold several floors
in its Hajar Tower project in
Makkah (Saudi Arabia) to a
Kuwaiti investor, for a total value
of KD4.71mn. The company ’s
share of the profit reached
KD1.48mn.
The food sector performed
poorly, as highlighted by a 2.2
percent drop in the Global Food
Index. Kuwait Foodstuff Company
(Americana) and Livestock
Transport & Trading Co, pulled
back by 2.74 percent and 1.06
percent respectively. Non-Kuwaiti
stocks too succumbed to the sell-

ing pressure, dipping by 0.19 percent. Sector heavyweight, Gulf
Finance House saw its share value
depreciate by 7.58 percent.
Corporate news
Kuwait Gazette announced
yesterday the establishment of
Doroo Holding Company with a
capital of KD1.36mn. It was
incepted as a Kuwaiti closed
shareholding company with a
capital of KD1.36mn, distributed
over 13.608mn shares, each valued at 100fils, the gazette said in
its latest edition. The company
owns shares in Kuwaiti or foreign
shareholding companies, besides
stocks or stakes in Kuwaiti or foreign limited liability companies,
takes part in establishment of
these two types of companies
and management and lending
and acting as guarantor for oth-

ers with no less than 20 percent
participation of the holding company in the borrowing company.
The company owns industrial
property rights of patents, industrial trademarks, royalties or any
other related rights, or hires them
for other companies for use in
Kuwait and abroad.
Oil news
Oil prices fell yesterday, snapping four days of gains as worries
over supplies from the Middle
East eased and investors focused
on the health of the global economy and fuel demand. Tension
between Iran and the West over
Tehran’s nuclear program has
raised fears this year of a disruption to oil supplies from the
Mideast Gulf but talks on the dispute are due to start soon, calming fears of an immediate crisis.

Oil slips towards $125
as Mideast worries ease
LONDON: Oil prices fell yesterday, snapping four days of gains as worries over
supplies from the Middle East eased and
investors focused on the health of the
global economy and fuel demand.
Tension between Iran and the West
over Tehran’s nuclear program has raised
fears of a disruption to oil supplies from
the Mideast Gulf but high-level talks are
due to start soon, calming fears of an
immediate crisis.
European economies are either contracting or stalled and there are increasing doubts whether the US Federal
Reserve will maintain its loose monetary
policy, a major support for growth. Brent
crude oil futures for April fell 55 cents to
$125.43 a barrel by 0923 GMT while US
crude was down 55 cents at $106.85.
“With less emphasis on Iran and the
Middle East, the focus is shifting back on
to the fundamentals of oil supply and
demand,” said Carsten Fritsch, commodity analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
China posted its largest trade deficit
in at least a decade over the weekend,
fanning concerns of lower fuel demand
in the world’s second largest economy.
While the deficit raised questions
over the global economy’s appetite for
its goods, China’s crude imports and
implied oil demand reached record levels in February.
Speculators cut their net long positions in US crude oil futures and options
positions in the week to March 6 for the
first time in five weeks as prices fell, data
from the US Commodity Futures Trading

Commission (CFTC) showed on Friday.
Brent rose 1.88 percent last week in
its sixth weekly rise in seven, after
Greece averted an immediate default
while US employment data improved,
strengthening prospects of better fuel
demand in the world’s largest oil user.
“Western Europe seems to be swinging into a positive trend, with Greek austerity measures in place and the largest
sovereign debt swap in history being all
but finalized,” Stephen Schork, editor of
the Schork Report in Villanova,
Pennsylvania.
He said the Brent-WTI spread may test
the 2012 low of minus $20.70 a barrel if
the market sees encouraging data this
week from Germany’s economic sentiment survey and UK jobless claims this
week. Investors are still spooked by supply concerns stemming from Iran’s dispute with the West over its nuclear program, on top of lower output from Syria,
South Sudan and Yemen. The chairman
of the US Senate Armed Services
Committee said on Friday that an international naval blockade of Iranian oil
exports should be considered before any
resort to air strikes against the country’s
disputed nuclear program. OPEC
pumped the most oil in more than three
years in February but oil prices have
surged more than 8 percent this year,
raising concerns that expensive oil could
hurt global economic growth. Kuwait’s
oil minister expressed similar worries on
Sunday, saying that current world oil
prices are not justified. — Reuters

Saudi to supply full
April crude to Asia
TOKYO: Saudi Arabia, the world’s top
crude exporter, will supply full contracted volumes of crude oil in April to at
least one Asian term buyer, unchanged
from March, an industry source familiar
with the matter said yesterday.
State-run Saudi Aramco made no
changes to its monthly allocations of
light and heavy grades for April, the
source said. The move was expected as
the OPEC kingpin has supplied full con-

tractual volumes to most Asian buyers
since late 2009.
The buyer does not plan to immediately take additional volumes from Saudi
Arabia to compensate for possible disruptions to oil from Iran, another of its
suppliers, the source said. Saudi Arabia
always gives buyers the option of asking
for cargoes to be loaded with up to 10
percent more or less crude than contracted. — Reuters

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

BUSINESS

launches the all-new
2012 GS in Mideast
❍

The first model of the New Generation Lexus

❍

New Bolder Exterior Design

❍

Excellent Driving Performance

❍

Spacious interior

❍

Advanced Technologies

DUBAI: Toyota Motor Corporation’s Middle East and North
Africa Representative Office has announced that Lexus
launched its new re-designed Lexus GS, the 1st model of the
new generation of Lexus vehicles. The 2012 Lexus GS has
been completely redesigned, with a new exterior, interior
and improved features and driving performance. Reflecting
the evolutional “L-Finesse” design philosophy with a bolder
and more dynamic styling’s, Lexus have created a powerful
and commanding performance sedan.
Commenting on the launch of the new GS, Yoshihiko
Kanamori, Chief Engineer of the Lexus GS said that “The GS
is the core of Lexus sedan family and our new model signifies the shift in our design philosophy that we first started to
show in both the LFA and CT200h. We hope that we have
created a car that not only signifies the new direction of
Lexus, but the continuation of the high luxury and performance standards that our customers with unique and
advanced value expect”
New Bolder Exterior Design
The new GS has been completely redesigned, with a new
unique exterior that embodies the evolutional “L-Finesse”
design philosophy, which makes Lexus vehicles bolder and
more dynamic.
The GS has a new well-balanced stance, with a protruding face that ends in a new “Spindle Grille” design giving the
car a wide, ground-hugging stance. The inverted trapezoid
upper grille and slanted lower grille have been combined
and integrated into a single element, bridging the bumper
mid-section to create a prominent ‘spindle’ shape. The brake
cooling ducts at either side of the spindle grille combine a
distinctive style with engineering functionality.
Next to the grille, the GS headlamps have newly developed integral LED daytime running lights. The GS continues
its long and elegant cabin proportions and at the rear, the
new design narrows
behind the flared

wheel arches. The New GS is available in a choice of 11 colors with three new additions, Crimson Red, Meteor Blue and
Sonic Silver.
Excellent Driving Performance
The new GS, with its rigid bodyshell and new suspension,
is a vehicle created for optimum agility and superb ride
comfort allowing it to respond to the driver’s commands
with much greater accuracy.
The 2012 GS will be available in a choice of three 6 speed
automatic engine choices; a V6 2.5L engine on the GS 250
with 206HP, a V6 3.5L Engine on the GS 350 with 312HP and
a 3.5L engine combined with Lexus hybrid system with
340HP on the GS 450h. The new GS features a double wishbone front and multilink rear suspension system, which
upholds the famed Lexus ride comfort and quality with
excellent agility, steering and stability. Also, new rear suspension structure helps to increase the luggage capacity.
The next generation GS also features a Drive Mode Select
function that allows the driver to choose between ECO,
NORMAL, SPORT S and SPORT S+, which help maximize the
efficiency of the GS or its sportier dynamic abilities. The GS
450h offers the Lexus Dynamic Handling system for the first
time as Lexus, which is an integrated four-wheel steering
system with ultimate agility and stability.
Improved Ergonomic Interior Design
The 2012 GS continues its redesigned look in the interior
with a new ergonomically designed, driver focused cockpit
and advanced Human Machine Interface technologies. A
new horizontal dashboard design creates roominess in the
car, allowing the GS to enjoy a 12.3inch LCD multi-display
screen, the largest on any production cars. The screen allows
for the permanent display of two types of information simultaneously such as map/audio and navigation input/incoming call and can be controlled by Lexus’s mouse-style
Remote Touch Interface.
Green Edge(tm) technology is only for

Mark Levinson Audio and its power saving technology has
been incorporated into the speakers of the 17 speaker GS
audio system, which also comes with a 12 speaker option.
The GS is also equipped with a new Head up Display (HUD)
which gives essential information such as the tachometer
and navigation instructions to the windscreen base in the
driver’s line of sight.
The interior is complimented by an all-white LED lighting
system, creating a sense of ambiance in the vehicle. Satin
Metal trim and brushed aluminum knobs adorn the centre
console and switches, along with a new LED illuminated
analog clock to create a unique atmosphere.
Advanced Technologies
Lexus continues its tradition and philosophy of implementing the latest technologies into its vehicles and the
new GS is no exception. The GS is equipped with a new airconditioning feature called S-flow Technology, which maintains optimum driver/passenger comfort while significantly
reducing power consumption. New ‘Nano-e’ Technology
cleans the air and has a both purifying and odor eliminating
effect.
Advanced technologies are also seen in the safety features of the GS, such as the Driver Monitor Camera which is
able to determine if driver’s eyes are closed and the AllSpeed Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) which works with the
Advanced Pre-Crash Safety system that is able to detect
obstacles in front of the car, even during cornering. (All
speed ACC is available only for 450h)

26

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

business

Volkswagen, Siemens and Rotana team up
Desert cleaning drive to raise public awareness
DUBAI: Two world-class German
brands, Siemens and Volkswagen and
Rotana, the leading hotel management
company in the Middle East and Africa,
have joined forces in an environmental
awareness drive. The ‘Clean the Desert’
initiative aims at raising public consciousness of the littering problem in
the desert, the grave consequences it
has to local wildlife and the importance
of a clean environment. On Saturday 17
March the three companies will take
teams of volunteers out into the desert
to clear an area of trash, disposing of it
in a safe and environmentally friendly
manner.
Commenting on the initiative,
Stefan Mecha, managing director,
Volkswagen Middle East said: “The
‘Clean the Desert’ project focuses on
preserving the desert and actively taking care of local wildlife, believing that
it is the everyday small actions that can
bring about the big changes the environment needs. It is great to team up
with Siemens and Rotana on this initiative as both companies share our concern about the serious issue of littering
and the need to do something about
it.” Siemens and Volkswagen have had
a long history of collaboration in the

development of parts, technology and
processes, and focusing on eco-friendly
initiatives. In their most recent joint initiative Volkswagen provided mobility
solutions for Siemens employees that
help drive environmental awareness

the sensible disposal of garbage and
waste,” said Erich Kaeser, CEO of
Siemens Middle East. “Wildlife is greatly
affected by the changes in the ecosystem of the desert and through this initiative Siemens and Volkswagen are

green technology, which is apparent in
our close work with Masdar City and in
our new offices featuring the latest in
energy saving technology”, Erich Kaeser
added. “Everyday a tragedy is taking
place in our deserts, along the beaches,

in the desert,” said Thomas Tapken, Area
Vice President, Rotana Dubai &
Northern Emirates. “Rotana has a longstanding commitment to sustainable
practices and environmental awareness
for the aim to maximize benefits and

and behavioral changes in the Middle
East.
“The ‘Clean the Desert’ campaign
emphasizes our commitment to raising
awareness, encouraging the public to
be more environmentally conscious in

reinforcing their commitment to a
cleaner and safer environment in the
desert.
“Siemens’ philosophy has always
been underlined with a devotion to
sustainability and developing the next

and in the mountains of the UAE.
Camels, sheep, goats and cattle, as well
as the protected Arabian Onyx, the
Sand Gazelles and other wildlife are
dying after ingesting plastic and other
waste materials that are being dumped

minimize harm to our earth,” concluded
Tapken. The campaign will be supported by the PlasticNotSoFantastic initiative, the online community expataktuell.de, averda international recycling,
KTM and Uschi Musch’s camel farm.

Former ECB chief Trichet to
speak at NBK symposium
‘Lessons on the euro-zone crisis’

R Seetharaman, CEO of Doha Bank
Group

Sheikh Fahad Bin Mohammed Bin
Jabor Al-Thani

Doha bank senior debt issue
nearly 8 times oversubscribed
DOHA: Sheikh Fahad Bin Mohammed
Bin Jabor Al-Thani, the Chairman of Doha
Bank with great delight announced, “We
have successfully completed the Senior
bond issue of USD 500 million under
Doha Bank’s Euro Medium Term Note
Program (EMTN) of $2 billion through
arrangers Morgan Stanley and J P
Morgan. The Bond is listed on London
Stock Exchange. The proceeds will be
used for general funding purposes
required to support the bank’s growth
plans.”
Sheikh
Abdul
Rehman
Bin
Mohammad Bin Jabor Al-Thani,
Managing Director of Doha Bank said,
“The issue generated an overwhelming
response from investors in Asia, the
Middle East and Europe resulting in oversubscription of the bond by nearly 8
times. It shows the exceptionally high
profile of Qatar and Doha Bank in the
global market space.”
R Seetharaman, CEO of Doha Bank
Group, said “The Senior 5-year bond carries a coupon of 3.5% and was issued at a
spread of 262.5 basis points over Mid
Swaps. This landmark deal is a follow up
issue from Doha Bank’s previous debut
subordinated bond issue of $340 million
in 2006. Doha Bank’s successful bond
issue follows perfectly executed road
shows in major financial centers in Asia,
the Middle East and Europe including
Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, London,
Zurich and Geneva. Leading investors
comprising of banks, investment funds

and other financial institutions invested
in Doha Bank’s bond. We received over
250 orders from institutions globally
which speaks volumes on the faith of
global investors in the bank’s strong per-

Sheikh Abdul Rehman Bin Mohammad
Bin Jabor Al-Thani
formance in recent years, its strategy,
franchise and leading market position
along with the impressive economic
growth in Qatar”.
Doha Bank is the third largest conventional Bank in Qatar. Total assets of the
bank as of December 31, 2011, were QR
52.4 bn and total shareholders’ equity for
the same period was QR 7.1bn with a net
profit of QR 1.24 bn. The return on average shareholders’ equity which was 22%
and the return on average assets that
was 2.49%. Moody’s has assigned a rating of A2 to Doha Bank indicating strong
credit quality of the bank.

KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait
(NBK) will host G30 Chairman and
former President of the European
Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet
for its annual international symposium in Kuwait. Trichet, who
also served two terms as the governor of the Bank of France, will
give a speech on the European
debt crisis entitled, ‘Lessons to be
drawn from the global financial
crisis: The new economic governance in the euro zone’.
A world renowned economic
and financial leader, Trichet has
been named by the Financial
Times as ‘Person of the Year’ and
as ‘Central Banker of the Year’ by
The Banker. Trichet ranked fifth

on a 2008 Newsweek list of the
world’s most powerful along with
economic triumvirs Ben Bernanke
and the governor of the Bank of

Vietnam cuts
key rate for first
time since 2009
HANOI: Vietnam’s central bank said yesterday it was
slashing a key policy interest rate for the first time in
nearly three years after double-digit inflation eased
in the communist country.
The State Bank of Vietnam will cut the refinancing
rate-which it charges on its loans to commercial
banks-to 14 percent from 15 percent with effect from
today, it said in a statement on its website. The central bank last cut the rate, one of several monetary
policy tools, in April 2009, to seven percent.
Since then, it has repeatedly hiked rates, most
recently in October 2011, in a bid to rein in soaring
inflation, which peaked at an annual rate of 23 percent in August of last year. Inflation has eased over
the last six months, reaching an 11-month low of
16.44 percent year-on-year in February, from 17.27
percent in January.
“This is a test for the economy-how it plays out will
affect future reductions in the interest rate,” Vu Dinh
Anh, deputy director of the state-backed Institute of
Economy and Finance, told AFP. The most pressing
problem for Vietnam now is to avoid a situation of
slow economic growth coupled with high inflation,
he said, warning that price pressures were likely to
grow in March and April.
“(After that) we will be able to see whether we
should increase or decrease interest rates, and how
we should adjust monetary policy to cope with inflation,” he said. The central bank also announced yesterday that the discount rate would be cut to 12 percent from 13 percent.
“Easing monetary policy will help the economy
achieve the government’s six percent GDP (gross
domestic product) growth target this year,” Hai Pham,
an economist at ANZ in Singapore, wrote in a recent
note to clients. But she added that “sticky” core inflation-which excludes food and fuel costs-remained a
concern.
Last year, GDP growth eased to 5.9 percent from
6.8 percent in 2010. The government is targeting economic growth of six percent for 2012, up slightly
from 2011, and has said it aims to bring inflation into
single digits. — AFP

as part of its International
Symposium series.
Past speakers include former
US Presidents George HW Bush
and Bill Clinton, former Prime
Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan
Yew, former US Secretaries of
State Colin Powell and
Condoleezza Rice, Mohamed ElErian, CEO and co-CIO of PIMCO,
the world’s largest bond investment house and Dr Daniel Yergin,
author Author of the acclaimed
work, The Prize:
The Epic Quest for Oil, Money
and Power which won the 1992
Pulitzer Prize.
The event will be VIP invitation-only.

Account (Al-Hassad Islamic). With the
introduction of a “Salary for Life” Prize of
KD 250,000 every month, the grand
prize is also now more frequent and
customers do not need to wait for a
quarter or more to qualify for the grand
prize. The “Salary for Life” has been a
core feature for the Al-Hassad Islamic
scheme with prizes paid out to date
exceeding KD 10 Million. The monthly
“Salary for Life” prize has enabled winners to afford better homes, ensure better education for their children and
enjoy an improved quality of life, with
the assurance that the rewards will continue to come month after month for
250 months. Al-Hassad Islamic is the
only scheme to offer high value weekly
and monthly prizes that are significantly
higher than the total outlay of other
prize schemes in Kuwait. In addition to
the attractive prize pool, customers
with high balances can opt for other
unique features such as Investment savings plan, cheque facility linked to their
investment savings account and state of
the art e-banking and 24 x 7 Contact
Center support.
The new Al-Hassad Islamic 2011 is
geared to meeting the needs of salaried
individuals. Customers can benefit from
not only the biggest and most attractive
prize pool but can also enjoy state of
the art banking benefits and access to
AUB’s unique products’ range for Islamic
Finances ,credit cards and investment
products. All Al-Hassad draws are conducted under the scrutiny of officials
from the Ministry of Industry and
Commerce and independent auditing
firm, Ernst& Young.
For more information on the AlHassad Islamic investment savings
account, its prize structure and eligibility criteria, customers may visit any AUB
Kuwait

Myanmar eyes trial FX auctions before float

KARACHI: A Pakistani stockbroker talks on a phone as he watches share prices
during a trading session at the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) in Karachi yesterday. The benchmark KSE-100 index was 13425.04, with increase of 72.30 points
in mid of the day’s session. — AFP

YANGON: Myanmar’s government plans to
hold trial foreign exchange auctions in March
before floating the currency from April 1, the
start of the 2012/13 fiscal year, a central bank
official said yesterday. The float would mark
the most substantial economic reform yet by
Myanmar’s new government and coincides
with political reforms that are ending half a
century of isolation in the former British
colony also known as Burma.
“Arrangements are under way to float the
kyat against the US dollar effective April 1
through a sealed auction system,” the official
told Reuters, declining to be named.
“It’s a managed float system. Every day the

central bank will invite sealed bids for a certain amount of US dollars from 11 private
banks, which have been granted Authorized
Dealer Licenses,” the official said.
The trials had been suggested by the
International Monetary Fund, which is advising Myanmar’s one-year-old civilian government on unifying its various exchange rates,
the official added.
A central bank presentation seen by
Reuters on March 6 had outlined the plans for
a managed float in the fiscal year starting in
April, but it stopped short of identifying when
the kyat would be floated.
The official said the government had calcu-

lated the national budget for the year from
April 1 using an exchange rate of 800 kyat per
dollar, which is around where the black market rate has been in recent weeks. Since 1977,
the kyat has been pegged to the International
Monetary Fund’s (IMF) special drawing rights,
with one dollar equalling 6.4 kyat.
Last March the former militar y junta
made way for a nominally civilian government that embarked on a major reform
drive, freeing hundreds of political prisoners, loosening media controls and engaging
with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi, leader of Myanmar’s pro-democracy
movement. — Reuters

27

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

Apple’s market power
to draw more scrutiny
A wake-up call for Apple?

Pinterest co-founder
bemused at site’s rise
SAN JOSE: It’s half an hour before the CEO of
Silicon Valley’s hottest social network is set to
take the stage, and it’s already standing room
only at the Startup Grind gathering in Palo Alto,
Calif. The bi-monthly gathering of tech entrepreneurs has nabbed some high-profile speakers in recent months. “The crowd was big for
Kevin Rose,” Dave Wamsley, a regular attendee,
says of the Digg founder. “But now Elvis has
entered the building.” Elvis, it turns out, is a
baby-faced native of Iowa with a somewhat shy
mien. Ben Silbermann is also CEO of one of the
fastest-growing websites in history - Pinterest,
which lets its 12 million-and-counting users collect and share digital images and link them to
websites. Wamsley, a serial entrepreneur who’s
been in Silicon Valley since the dot-com era,
said he hasn’t seen a startup take off overnight
like this since Netscape. Indeed, Startup Grind
founder Derek Anderson admitted while chatting onstage with Silbermann last week that
he’d never heard of Pinterest until a year ago,
when he asked his wife, “What’s that on your
computer?” Turned out she’d been spending
every night on the site, looking for recipe tips
and the like - for four hours at a pop. Before
long, all of her friends were, too, in keeping with
the site’s heavily female demographic.
Silbermann’s wife, for her part, was key to
getting her husband to finally tackle the startup
he’d been talking about for years while holding
down a customer support job at Google. “She
said, ‘You should do it or shut up about it,’ “
Silbermann told the audience at AOL’s West
Coast headquarters in Palo Alto. He sounds
slightly thunderstruck by the site’s wildfire
growth: Pinterest is the 16th most-visited website in America - ahead of CNN and ESPN.com and the 50th most popular in the world, according to ranking service Alexa.
Venture capitalists who, two years ago, didn’t understand the startup now are clamoring
to follow in the footsteps of Netscape cofounder Marc Andreessen, whose venture firm

in September led a $27 million investment. Bigname media have come calling to interview
Silbermann and been largely rebuffed.
“We’ve been too busy to hire a press person
yet,” he said, almost apologetically. All
Silbermann wanted, after all, was a place to help
people share their hobbies. The son of two family-practice physicians in Des Moines,
Silbermann grew up collecting leaves and
insects. He went to Yale figuring he’d follow in
the family trade, then switched to political science. After graduating in 2003, he landed a consulting job in Washington, DC and joined the
firm’s technology practice because, he said,
that’s what was open.
But even though he’d grown up a Luddite his father still refuses to ditch the family’s old
VCR - the younger Silbermann saw the changes
being wrought by Web 2.0. “I felt like the story
of my time was happening in California,” he told
last week’s crowd, “and I wanted to be part of it.”
The Google job, he said, taught him a lot,
but as a non-engineer in a company that prizes
tech skills, his ceiling was limited. After his wife’s
tough-love pep talk, he finally took the plunge right before the 2008 Wall Street meltdown
made it nearly impossible to raise money.
It didn’t help that Silbermann’s two cofounders were as non-technical as he was. But
as he kept refining his idea during long hours at
Hacker Dojo, a Mountain View, Calif., hothouse
for techies, he became more convinced of the
potential of a clean, colorful interface that
would let users collect and “pin” digital images much the way he’d pinned and displayed
insects as a boy.
“A ‘pin’ is a digital representation of an object
that means something to you,” he said. “When
you open the site, you should see things that
you love - and be able to connect to the people
who found them.” After the site launched in
January 2010, however, the going was slow. Four
months in, Pinterest had 200 users; half were
Silbermann’s friends in Des Moines. —MCT

SAN FRANCISCO: In everything it does, from
product design to business deals, Apple strives
for as much control as possible. But as the
world’s most valuable company sets out to
define and dominate the rapidly evolving markets it created with the iPhone and iPad, Apple
is likely to face antitrust regulators who want to
curb its power.
Apple’s clout is coming under scrutiny as
the US Justice Department considers filing a
lawsuit against the company and five US publishers for an alleged scheme that has driven
up the prices of electronic books since the
2010 release of the iPad. The involved parties
are trying to avoid a high-profile court battle
by negotiating a settlement, according to The
Wall Street Journal. The newspaper broke the
news last week about the US Justice
Department’s plans to allege that Apple Inc.
and the publishers orchestrated the price-fixing scheme to thwart the e-book discounts
offered by Amazon.com Inc.
“I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call
for Apple,” says Ted Henneberry, an antitrust
attorney for the Orrick law firm in Washington.
Apple declined to comment. The e-book case
demonstrates the market leverage Apple has
gained from its system of Internet-connected
devices that tie into iTunes, its digital marketplace for mobile applications, books, newspapers, magazines, textbooks, movies and music.
“That platform has become really essential
for a lot of people,” says David Balto, an
antitrust attorney who was a Federal Trade
Commission policy director during the Clinton
administration. “Apple clearly has gained a lot
of power in a number of markets.” Apple has
sold more than 315 million iPhones, iPads and
iPods that run on its mobile operating system,
giving it the keys to a market that will become
increasingly influential as more people buy
digital content for their electronic devices.
Apple’s success has transformed the company from a technology boutique to a trend-setting juggernaut in the past decade. Its annual
revenue has soared from $5 billion in 2001 to
$108 billion last year. About three-quarters of
that revenue comes from sales of iPhones,
iPads and iPods. The company, based in
Cupertino, Calif., now has a market value of

nearly $510 billion - more than Microsoft Corp.
and Google Inc. combined.
So far, though, government regulators
haven’t paid as much attention to Apple as
they did to Microsoft during the 1990s and to
Google during the past four years. Microsoft’s
efforts to maintain and increase its dominance
of personal computer software provoked an
antitrust lawsuit that unsuccessfully attempted
to break up the company. Allegations that
Google has been abusing its dominance of the
Internet search and advertising markets have
sparked wide-ranging government probes into
the company’s business practices in the U.S.
and Europe.
Apple may simply behave better than some
of its rivals, or it may be doing business in areas
that are so new that government regulators are
still learning how those nascent markets function, says D. Daniel Sokol, an associate law professor who focuses on antitrust issues at the
University of Florida. “To attract antitrust attention, you have to be more than just big. You
have to be big and bad,” Sokol says. “It was only
2007 when Apple released the iPhone, and
only 2010 when it released the iPad. The company hasn’t had that long to be bad yet, if it is
indeed bad.” Apple hasn’t been flying completely under the government’s radar. In 2009,
the Federal Trade Commission opened an
investigation into whether Apple and Google
had been stifling competition by sharing two
of the same directors - Eric Schmidt and Arthur
Levinson - on their respective boards. That
inquiry ended when Schmidt, then Google’s
CEO, resigned from Apple’s board and
Levinson, former CEO of biotechnology company Genentech, resigned from Google’s
board. In 2010, Apple, Google and several other Silicon Valley companies settled a Justice
Department investigation into an arrangement
that prohibited the employers from recruiting
each other’s workers. Apple, Google and four
other companies, including Intel Corp., promised not to enter into any other “no-solicitation”
agreements for five years. A federal lawsuit
filed on behalf of the workers at the companies
is still seeking damages.
Government regulators in the US and
Europe are also monitoring Apple, Google and

Microsoft for any sign they are wielding key
patents to gain an unfair competitive advantage in the mobile phone market. Apple’s stable of popular mobile devices and the conjoined market for selling digital content will
become even more pivotal if the vision of the
company’s late co-founder and CEO, Steve
Jobs, pans out.
The way Jobs saw it before he died five
months ago, technology is in the early stages
of a phase that will de-emphasize the importance of personal computers running on
Microsoft’s software as people instead rely on
sleek, highly portable devices that traverse
high-speed Internet connections to fetch content and other files stored in far-flung data centers. If Apple fulfills its destiny as foreseen by
Jobs, the company will dominate this “post-PC”
era with its array of iPhones, iPads and possibly
a revolutionary television set. Jobs hinted at
Apple’s looming breakthrough in TV last year
during interviews with his biographer, Walter
Isaacson. As it is, the iPad already has grabbed
62 percent of the tablet computer market,
according to IMS Research.
Even if Apple’s market share grows larger,
the company may be able to minimize its
potential antitrust headaches by pointing to
what should still be fierce competition in both
smartphones and tablet computers,
Henneberry says. For instance, more than 300
million devices are already running on Google’s
Android software, and major PC makers such
as Hewlett Packard Co. and Dell Inc. are hoping
to make a dent in the tablet computer market
later this year with devices running Microsoft’s
new operating system, Windows 8.
Apple has already girded for more government attention. At the end of 2010, it hired
Kyle Andeer, a former antitrust lawyer for the
FTC and Justice Department. Andeer became
the first antitrust specialist on Apple’s internal
legal team. “Any big US tech company understands that when they are successful enough
to create and expand markets, they may get
government scrutiny,” says David Turetsky, an
antitrust attorney with the law firm Dewey &
LeBoeuf in Washington. “Apple is going to keep
antitrust lawyers very busy for some time to
come.” —AP

China’s top 2
video websites
set to merge

EMC showcases healthcare
informatics solutions
RIYADH: EMC Corporation sponsors the
Saudi E-Health Conference 2012, the largest
of its kind in the Middle East, being held from
March 11-13, 2012 at the Intercontinental
Hotel Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. EHealth 2012 will explore the new trends and
the latest technology knowledge in the field
of healthcare informatics, in order to create
awareness around Public health informatics,
emphasize its importance in enhancing the
quality of healthcare delivery, and ensuring
the efficient utilization of resources.
With data growth predicted to increase at
a rate of 100 percent every 18 months it is
essential that IT infrastructures within
Healthcare organizations not only cope with
the expanding volume but also add considerable value. The Healthcare providers and payers are being asked to improve clinical and
financial outcomes and address the growing
demand with limited resource. To deliver
optimum patient care, healthcare providers
need access to a full patient view through an
electronic health care records system.
With over 30 years experience with
healthcare organizations, EMC has been
committed to provide innovative and reliable solutions that leverage patient informa-

BEIJING: China’s top two video websites announced
plans yesterday to merge in hopes of creating the
dominant competitor in a fast-growing industry that
is drawing viewers from bland state television.
Youku Inc. and Tudou Holdings Ltd. said the new
company, Youku Tudou Inc., will be created in a
stock-for-stock transaction. They said it requires
shareholder approval but is expected to be completed by the third quarter of this year.
China’s dozens of privately owned video websites
have nearly 400 million viewers and industry analysts say the field might represent the future of
Chinese video watching and advertising. Chinese
video websites initially imitated Western video-sharing sites that rely on user-supplied content. But they
have evolved to act like TV stations, showing imported programs or their own productions to appeal to
affluent urban viewers coveted by advertisers.
Youku and Tudou are former rivals and were
involved in a legal battle earlier this year over accusations they were misusing each other’s content.
Both have reported losses recently due to high costs
for Internet bandwidth and programming. Youku
had 21.8 percent of China’s online video market in
the final quarter of 2011, with Tudou in second place
at 13.7 percent, according to Analysys International,
a research firm in Beijing. Sohu TV, a service of
Chinese portal Sohu.com Inc., was in third place
with 13.3 percent. Other competitors had singledigit market shares.
In a statement, Youku founder and CEO Victor
Koo said the merged entity should have the market’s
biggest user base and content library. “Youku Tudou
Inc. would establish a clear and dominant leadership
position in China’s online video sector,” Koo said.
Total revenue for Chinese video websites rose 135
percent over a year earlier in the final quarter of
2011 to 1.7 billion yuan ($275 million), according to
Analysys International.
Video websites show popular Western series and
allow users to download movies and other programming to watch on smart phones or tablet computers. Beijing has allowed such private companies to
flourish with less of the censorship imposed on
China’s entirely state-owned newspapers, TV and
radio, possibly to avoid stifling what is seen as a
promising high-tech industry.
Regulators might be driving still more viewers
online and away from state TV with rules imposed
this year to limit the number of reality, talent and
dating shows local broadcasters can show on satellite channels. The number of Chinese who watch
online video jumped from 284 million in 2010 to 394
million in 2011, according to CMM Intelligence, a
media consulting firm in Beijing. It said the total
might pass 445 million by the end of 2012.
The surging popularity of online video threatens
to erode viewership for state TV, which Beijing sees
as a tool to mold public opinion. That raises the
threat communist leaders might tighten controls to
protect their media presence.
Youku reported a 49.6 million yuan ($8 million)
loss for the three months ending Dec. 31 but said
full-year profit was 200.3 million yuan ($32.3 million), up 450 percent from 2010. Tudou reported a
quarterly loss of 148.9 million yuan ($24 million) and
a full-year loss of 511.2 million ($82.4 million). —AP

AUSTIN: In this photograph, Buddy, the top cat gamer, faces-off against a
human competitor in a match of Friskies “You vs. Cat” during the SXSW
Interactive Festival on Sunday, March 11, 2012. The first ever duel-species
game allows cats and humans to play together using tablet technology. —AP

Star tech investor set
to teach at Stanford
SAN FRANCISCO: Peter Thiel, the superstar course proposal to Stanford after approaching
Silicon Valley investor, has famously dismissed Sebastian Thrun, a Stanford computer science
university as a waste of time and money, and professor, to discuss the possibility of teaching.
even offered students cash to drop out. But his (Thrun has since left the university to work on an
views apparently do not apply to himself - or to online education project.) “If I do my job right,
Stanford University. Thiel, 44, will teach at the this is the last class you’ll ever have to take,” Thiel
elite university this spring, sharing pearls of said through a spokesman. Mehran Sahami, the
entrepreneurial wisdom in a class called department’s associate chair for education, said
“Computer Science 183: Startup.” The course is the curriculum committee debated whether
already oversubscribed, with Thiel’s return to his Thiel would use the class as a conduit to recruit
alma mater sparking both enthusiasm and skep- students to his companies. Other faculty voiced
concerns that they were “not sure of
ticism on a campus increasingly
his motivations given his history with
obsessed with start-up success.
respect to universities,” Sahami said.
“It’s puzzling to us what he has to
“We went into this with eyes wide
say,” said Nruthya Madappa, a senior
open,” said Sahami, a former research
in electrical engineering who saw
scientist at Google. “But on balance,
rumours of Thiel’s class explode on
this would be something our students
her Facebook news feed on a recent
would benefit from.” Still others, like
evening and rushed to sign up “sevVivek Wadhwa, a fellow at Stanford’s
eral minutes” after course enrolment
Peter Thiel
Rock Centre of Corporate Governance,
went live. “He’s famously known to
were not so sure. “It’s hypocritical, but
make people furious with his views
and the way he questions things,” she said. “But I’m not surprised,” Wadhwa said. “The same peohe’s challenging us to look at our education here ple who go around bashing education are the
in a different way.” Thiel, who co-founded online most educated. What’s he going to do? Tell stupayment processor PayPal and later reaped bil- dents, ‘When you graduate from my class, drop
lions with bets on gilded names like Facebook , out right after that?’”
Jim O’Neill, the head of the Thiel Foundation,
LinkedIn and Zynga, is known for his maverick
ways, even emerging recently as the main finan- which administers the entrepreneurship fellowcial backer for libertarian presidential contender ship, said that the investor has been concerned
Ron Paul. Thiel has argued that the brightest for several years about the skyrocketing cost of
young minds should strike out on their own and tuition and the burdens of student debt for
start companies rather than take on crushing many graduates. “He’s only said that college is
good value for some people, it’s just not necesdebt to pursue a college degree.
Never mind that Thiel himself holds both a sarily a good value for everyone,” O’Neill said.
bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a law “He’s not calling for the abolition of college.”
degree from Stanford; he has backed up his talk Thiel chose to deliver his message in the classwith his checkbook. Last year, Thiel started a fel- room because he “wants to reach out to people
lowship that offered $100,000 to 20 budding in many different spaces,” O’Neill said, adding
entrepreneurs between the ages of 14 and 20 that Thiel chose Stanford, his alma mater,
because the university’s startup culture made it
who would drop out to focus on their ventures.
But Thiel last year also submitted a formal a “natural fit.” —Reuters

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

Climate, food pressures
require rethink on water
World Water Forum opens to warnings of scarcity

LEIPZIG: A young male Rothschild giraffe and its mother are presented at
the zoo. The giraffe, born on February 22, 2012 belongs to the most
endangered giraffe subspecies with only a few hundred members in the
wild.— AFP

Finding and riding the
bicycle built for you
NEW YORK: As fuel prices soar and the
weather warms, more adults are rediscovering bicycling as a way to get fit, get
around, and rekindle that childhood joy of
movement. Experts say whether you’re
pedaling down suburban paths, mountain
trails or city lanes, taking a few precautions
will have you sitting sweet upon your bicycle seat. “With the tough economy and gas
prices rising, suddenly biking seems like
this sensible, fun way to get fit,” said Peter
Flax, editor-in-chief of Bicycling magazine.
“It’s cheaper than joining a gym. And you
can drive your car less.”
In 2010, there were 19.8 million bicycles
sold in the United States, up 15 percent
from 2009, according to the National
Bicycle Dealers Association, a non-profit
trade group. “The biggest surprise is the
growth in big and mid-size cities,” said Flax.
“Go to a coffee shop or a farmers’ market,
you’ll see many people who aren’t hard
core, spandex-clad athletes using their
bikes to get around.”
The League of American Bicyclists, an
advocacy group, reported that bicycling
increased by an average of 36 percent in
the 70 largest US cities from 2005 to 2010.
Consequently, Flax said, city biking is getting safer. “Infrastructure changes like bike
lanes are on the rise, and people in cars are
becoming more patient.”
While many a workable bicycle is languishing in a garage or closet, Flax said,
before pedaling off into the sunset, or the
office, on one, visit the bicycle shop for a
tune up and fitting. “Make sure someone
looks at your body. Is saddle at the right
height? The handle bars? Someone who
has seen hundreds of thousands of people
can do a better job than you can do on

your own.” If you’re in the market for a new
ride, Flax says, stick with the specialists. “Go
to a bike shop, not a big box store,” said
Flax, whose magazine’s 2012 Buyer’s Guide
reviews over 100 bicycles. “Airplane technology has been pushed on to bikes so
they are really light and comfortable now.”
Another consideration is the ground
beneath your wheels.
On suburban trails you want tires wide
enough to ride on muck, Flax explained; in
the city, the bike should be rugged enough
to handle tough pavement; for tooling
around the woods, a mountain bike is optimal. And don’t forget the helmet. “Even at
low speeds things can happen,” said Flax,
who compared riding without a helmet to
driving without a seatbelt. “And helmets
have gotten a lot cooler looking lately. It
doesn’t have to be like wearing a giant
mushroom on your head.”
Bicycling is an effective cardio exercise
gets the heart and lungs into shape and
exercises large muscle groups, said
American Council on Exercise spokesperson Liz Neporent. “Unlike running or walking, it takes a lot of stress off the joints,” she
said. “And it’s more of a whole body exercise than you would think. There’s a lot of
core work, and it’s obviously great for working the legs and butt.” Neporent recommends supplementing bicycling with
strength or resistance training, and urges
beginners to start slow.
“You can’t undo 10 years of sloth with
one workout,” she said. Flax said a brisk ride
can burn 500 to 800 calories in an hour, and
with the wind in your hair. “The advantage
of biking is how much fun it is,” he said.
“Compare it to being on a stair climber for
40 minutes.” — Reuters

Behavioural therapy
may help hot flashes
A few sessions of behavioral therapy, even a “self-help” version, may help
some women find relief from
menopausal hot flashes, according to
a British study. Researchers writing in
the journal Menopause said that after
six weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy, more than two-thirds of the
women who under went, through
group sessions or self-help, had a “clinically significant” drop in problems
related to hot flashes and night
sweats.
Hormone replacement therapy is
considered the most effective treatment of hot flashes, but since hormones have been linked to increased
risks of heart disease, blood clots and
breast cancer, many women want
alternative remedies. Some antidepressants have been found to cool hot
flashes, but “natural products”-such as
black cohosh, soy and flaxseed-have
generally failed to meet the test of
clinical trials.
“These results suggest that cognitive behavioural therapy delivered in
group or self-help format is an effective treatment option for women during the menopause transition and
postmenopause with problematic hot
flashes/night sweats,” wrote senior
researcher Myra Hunter, at King’s
College London.
Cognitive behavioural therapy is a
treatment option for problems ranging from depression to sleep problems
to digestive disorders. It aims to
change the unhealthy thinking patterns and behaviours that can feed

mental or physical symptoms.
Hunter said the therapy “involves
developing helpful, accepting
approaches to hot flashes and also
using breathing exercises to focus
attention away from the flashes and
negative thoughts.” Hunger recruited
140 women who had been having hot
flashes and night sweats at least 10
times a week for a month or more, randomly assigning them to either groupbased therapy, a self-help version or
no treatment.
Group therapy sessions took place
four times a month. Self-help therapy
involved one meeting and a phone
call with a psychologist, but otherwise
they used a book and CD. After six
weeks, 65 percent of women who
underwent group therapy reported a
meaningful drop in how problematic
their hot-flash symptoms were. The
same was true of 73 percent of women
in the self-help group.
That compared with 21 percent of
women who had had no treatment. The
benefit was still apparent after six
months, though by then one-third of
the untreated group had also improved.
Women in the therapy groups said they
were having fewer hot flashes-but
women who had received no treatment
reported a similar drop, the study said.
Instead, the benefit seemed to come
from changes in how women perceived
their symptoms. “Women say that they
might still have hot flashes but not
notice them, and then they feel more
confident about coping with them,”
Hunter said. — Reuters

MARSEILLE: A global meeting on water opened in
France yesterday with demands to provide billions
of poor people with clean water and decent sanitation and address the spiralling demands of the
future. “The challenges are huge and the problems
are deep-rooted,” French Prime Minister Francois
Fillon said as he opened the sixth World Water
Forum in the southern city of Marseille. “The number of human beings who have no access to clean
water is in the billions. Each year, we mourn millions of dead from the health risks that this causes.
This situation is not acceptable-the world community must rise and tackle it.”
The World Water Forum, held every three years,
gathers policymakers, big corporations and nongovernmental organisations. As many as 20,000
participants from 140 countries are expected for
the six-day event, including scores of ministers for
the environment and water and a scattering of
heads of state from francophone west Africa.
Separately, a massive UN report, issued only once
every three years, said water problems in many
parts of the world were chronic. Without a crackdown on waste will worsen as demand for food rises and climate change intensifies, it said.
“Pressures on freshwater are rising, from the
expanding needs of agriculture, food production
and energy consumption to pollution and the
weaknesses of water management,” UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon said in the report. “Climate
change is a real and growing threat.
Without good planning and adaptation, hundreds of millions of people are at risk of hunger,
disease, energy shortages and poverty.” Demand
for food will increase by some 70 percent by 2050,
which will lead to a nearly 20 percent increase in
global agricultural water consumption, the UN’s
Fourth World Water Development Report said.
Abstraction of aquifers has at least tripled in the
past 50 years and now supplies almost half of all
drinking water today. “In some hotspots, the availability of non-renewable groundwater resources
has reached critical limits,” the report said. The
report demanded an overhaul in the use of water,
especially by curbing waste. Smarter irrigation, less
thirsty crops and the use of “grey,” or used water, to
flush toilets are among the options. Already, more

than 2.5 billion people are in need of decent sanitation and nearly one in 10 has yet to gain access to
“improved” drinking water, as defined under the
UN’s 2015 development goals.
Ministers attending the forum will issue a nonbinding statement today affirming their awareness
of the problems and intent to fix them. Looking
ahead to the “Rio plus 20” summit in June, Fillon
stood by France’s plan to create a World
Environment Organisation, an idea opposed by the
United States.
“What is at stake here is the historic change of
our societies from a development that is economically efficient but environmentally destructive to a
model that combines economic development, the

fair sharing of resources among the region’s of the
glob and the preservation of ecosystems,” said
Fillon.
The water forum is shunned by some environmentalists or development activists, who deride it
as a trade fair lacking democracy and transparency.
An alternative forum is being staged elsewhere in
Marseille by 2,000 members of civil society from
Europe, the United States, Latin America and Africa.
“Water cannot be solely determined by politicians,
financiers and technicians,” organisers of the rival
forum said in a statement. “Every woman and every
man, whatever his responsibilities, must take part
in decision-making, contributing to the protection
of water and ensuring fair access to it.” — AFP

MARSEILLE: French President of the World Water Council, Loic Fauchon (right)
delivers his speech, standing by Malian participants Mailin Walet Ahmoudene
(center) and her brother Sidi Ahmed Ag Ahmoudene (left) during the World
Water Forum yesterday. — AP

Scientist who warned of thinning ozone dies
LOS ANGELES: F. Sherwood Rowland, the Nobel
prize-winning chemist who sounded the alarm on
the thinning of the Earth’s ozone layer, has died. He
was 84. Rowland died Saturday at his home of complications from Parkinson’s disease, the dean of the
University of California, Irvine’s physical sciences
department said Sunday. “We have lost our finest
friend and mentor,” Kenneth C. Janda said in a statement. “He saved the world from a major catastrophe:
never wavering in his commitment to science, truth
and humanity and did so with integrity and grace.”
Rowland was among three scientists awarded
the 1995 Nobel Prize for chemistry for explaining
how the ozone layer is formed and decomposed
through chemical processes in the atmosphere. The
prize was awarded more than two decades after

Rowland and post-doctoral student Mario Molina
calculated that if human use of chlorofluorocarbons,
a byproduct of aerosol sprays, deodorants and other
household products, were to continue at an
unchanged rate, the ozone layer would be depleted
after several decades. Their work built upon findings
by atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen.
Their prediction caught enormous attention and
was strongly challenged partly because the non-toxic properties of CFCs were thought to be environmentally safe. Their work gained widespread recognition more than a decade later with the discovery
of the ozone hole over the Earth’s polar regions. “It
was to turn out that they had even underestimated
the risk,” a Nobel committee said in its award citation
for Rowland, Molina and Crutzen. Molina said his for-

mer mentor never shied from defending his work or
advocating a ban on CFCs. “He showed me that if we
believe in the science ... we should speak out when
we feel it’s important for society to change,” Molina
told The Associated Press. His work on ozone depletion made Rowland a prominent voice for scientists
concerned about global warming. “
Isn’t it a responsibility of scientists, if you believe
that you have found something that can affect the
environment, isn’t it your responsibility to do
something about it, enough so that action actually
takes place?” Rowland said at a White House climate change roundtable in 1997. “If not us, who? If
not now, when?” he asked. Rowland was survived
by his wife of nearly 60 years, Joan, a son and a
daughter. —AP

For athletes, ageing can be a pain
MINNEAPOLIS: Dick Anderson
reached the pinnacle of his rockclimbing endeavors - literally as well
as figuratively - 10 years ago when,
after 3 exhausting days of clinging to
the side of a sheer cliff, he reached
the top of El Capitan, a majestic granite monolith in Yosemite Park that rises nearly three-fourths of a mile
straight up. Shortly after finishing
that climb, Anderson, then 52, dislocated his right shoulder. Two years
later, while trying to come back from
surgery on that shoulder, he blew out
the left one. The Minneapolis man’s
climbing days were over, and the
prospect of being relegated to an
overstuffed chair in front of a T V
pained him as much as his injured
shoulders.
“I found that I needed to be active
to feel complete as a person,” he said.
But he also found that being active
on the other side of 50 often involves
embracing new approaches and
techniques. And if you’re a lifelong
athlete, it can mean coming to grips
with the fact that you’re not going to
be able to run as fast, hit a golf ball as
far or climb rock walls the way you
once did. Maintaining fitness as we
age takes extra diligence, including
more emphasis on stretching, monitoring hydration, focusing on form
and strengthening core muscles. Yes,
these are the same things we were
told to do in our 20s and 30s, but
now the trainers really mean it. A 50year-old body isn’t nearly as forgiving
about us ignoring these things as a
20-something body.
Anderson decided to appreciate
what he still could do rather than
mourn the loss of what he couldn’t.
“I’m so thrilled to be able to do what
I’m doing at my age that I just let (the
disappointment) go,” he said. “For
some reason, my shoulders are OK
with the motion for cross-country skiing and kayaking, so I do a lot of that.”
Keeping physically fit as we age isn’t
a pipe dream.
A study conducted at the
University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center and published in January in
the professional journal Physician
and Sportsmedicine found that loss
of muscle mass isn’t an inevitable
byproduct of aging. “This study contradicts the common observation
that muscle mass and strength
decline as a function of aging alone,”
it says, putting the blame on inactivi-

ty. But just keeping active isn’t
enough either, experts say. The key is
keeping active in ways that help your
body handle the activity. Mia Bremer,
fitness manager at the retirement
community Friendship Village of
Bloomington, Minn., has seen this
from both perspectives. “We have
clients in their 70s who wouldn’t be
having (physical) problems now” if
they had done what they were supposed to when they were in their 50s,
she said. And at the same time, “We
have clients in their 80s who did it
right and are in excellent shape.”
Jill Lile was teaching dance at
Creighton University when she was
sidelined by a toe injury that often
afflicts ballet dancers. She not only
was forced to redefine her dancing “I started perfecting my flat-foot
technique,” she said - but she segued
into a new career as a chiropractor.

“I could see the writing on the
wall” as far as dancing, said Lile, 54. “I
wanted to keep exercising because I
like the way I feel when I exercise. I
like the benefits of exercising, and I
wasn’t ready to pack it up. I realized
that there was so much else available.
There’s yoga and Pilates and Zumba.”
There’s even still dance, including
teaching classes at Minnesota Dance
Theatre. It’s just not at the same
intensity. “After I got surgery on my
foot, I tried to work with it the best I
could,” she said. “I can do ballet flatfooted. I just can’t do it all the way.
I’ve modified it as best I could. I can
still get out and move to the music.”
Lile combines her injury experience with her technical knowledge as
a chiropractor, although not all of her
clients at the Hippocrates Center for
Holistic Healing in Minneapolis like
what she has to tell them. “A lot of

Like many people growing older, Jill Lile (left) Dick
Anderson and Rick Goullaud have found they need to limit
or change some of their athletic activities. — MCT

runners are like dancers - when they
get hurt, you can’t get them to stop,”
she said. “You have to know when to
stay down. A lot of injuries become a
test of patience.”
Returning to action too soon after
an injury has become so common
that there’s even a term for it now,
said Mark Richards, vice president of
program development for the Edina,
Minn.-based Welcyon Fitness After 50
clubs. “It’s called incomplete rehabilitation syndrome,” he said. If you
injure, say, a knee, use the other knee
to establish “a baseline physiological
status,” he said, and don’t return to
action until the injured joint has the
same strength and range of motion
as the healthy one. Otherwise, “you’re
an injury waiting to happen,” he
warned.
Rick Goullaud knows how hard it
can be force yourself to abstain.
When he broke his foot in October,
the pain was worsened by the disappointment of it happening the weekend before he was going to compete
in a triathlon for which he’d spent
months training.
“It was hard to stop training when
you’d been looking forward to something that long,” said Goullaud, 67, of
Plymouth, Mich. “There were 10 of us
who train together who were going
to Las Vegas for the Monster Dash
triathlon. We work pretty hard when
we train, so it was disappointing. But
I’m back at it now. I train at least five
days a week, sometimes seven.”
The triathlon’s format forces him
to cross-train, rotating among biking,
swimming and running. Experts say
that mixing activities is a key to exercising as we age. One of the main
causes of repetitive stress injuries - as
the name indicates - is repetition.
“Keep your body guessing,” said
Sarah Hankel, a personal trainer at
the Lifetime Fitness club in St. Louis
Park, Minn. “Stop running every day
and bike some days. Or swim. Take
yoga. There are lots of alternatives.
Injuries tend to occur when monotony sets in.”
The important thing, everyone
agreed, is to not give up. “There’s no
age limit” at which a body quits
responding to exercise, Richards said.
“When it comes to a wide range of
health issues, exercise is the magic
bullet. It’s that powerful with respect
to its benefits. If exercise were a pill,
everyone would take it.” — MCT

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

H E A LT H

Health

in brief

Diabetics should lift weights before cardio
NEW YORK: People with diabetes may have better
blood sugar control during workouts if they lift
weights before doing cardio exercise, according to
a new study by Canadian researchers. It’s important
to define the best way for people with type 1 diabetes to exercise so that blood sugar doesn’t drop
too low, yet they can still reap all the benefits of
aerobic exercise, Dr. Ronald Sigal, an endocrinologist at the University of Calgary in Canada and lead
author of the study told Reuters Health.
Sihuan prepares anti-hypertension drug
HONG KONG: Chinese drugmaker Sihuan
Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd has registered
its anti-hypertensive drug with the country’s drug
regulator and hopes to obtain approval to begin
clinical trials in China by the end of 2013. The
announcement, made over the weekend, sent its
stock price up 1.9 percent to HK$3.18 on Monday
morning, the highest since March 5. Shares were up
0.64 percent at HK$3.14 by 0338 GMT, compared
with a 0.28 percent decline in the benchmark Hang
Seng Index.
Fake Avastin shows very
little protects drug supply
NEW YORK: As drug counterfeiters step up their
sales of bogus medicines, global health regulators
have few protections in place to prevent them from
reaching patients, and new laws aimed at addressing the problem could be years away. Scrutiny of
the supply chain has grown since fake versions of
Roche’s multibillion-dollar cancer drug Avastin
turned up at US oncology practices late last year,
sparking an international investigation that so far
stretches from southern California back to Turkey
with a stopover in a Cairo suburb.
After jail, former inmates
face higher death risk
NEW YORK: People released from New York City
jails face an increased risk of death from drug overdose, homicide or suicide-especially in the first couple weeks of freedom, city health officials say. In a
study of more than 155,000 people released from
city jails over five years, researchers found that former inmates were twice as likely as other city residents to die of a drug overdose or homicide.
Florida passes bill to test
state workers for drugs
TALLAHASSEE: Florida lawmakers on Friday
approved a measure allowing state agency heads
to randomly test employees for illegal drugs, sending the bill to Governor Rick Scott, who is expected
to sign it. By a 26-14 vote, the Senate approved a
measure, House Bill 1205, that allows up to 10 percent of a department’s employees to be randomly
tested for alcohol and other substance abuse.

PRASLIN ISLAND: The beach is pictured. — AFP

Seychelles’ idyllic habitat
at risk from climate change
VICTORIA: Bursts of torrential rain lash
the idyllic white beaches of the
Seychelles, where conservationists fear
that rare species such as the giant tortoise are at severe risk from climate
change. As changing season patterns
bring harsher storms and much longer
dry spells, international organisations are
helping fight climate change in the tiny
nation, the only one in the world where
50 percent of the land is a nature reserve.
“ The seasons are merging, there’s
more rain but in short bursts, with long
dry periods. Drinking water dries up and
the climate plays havoc with breeding
and feeding patterns,” said Seychelles climate change expert Rolph Payet.
Recognising the risks, the United Nations
Development Programme and Global
Environment Facility have approved $8.7
million (6.6 million euros) this year for climate change adaptation projects in the
Indian Ocean archipelago.
While part of the funds will go to tackling issues affecting Seychellois people
such as drought, the rest is earmarked for
further research into protecting the vast
array of species from the fallout from
global warming. “We have a range of animals at risk, from the rare turtles and tortoises which lay their eggs on our beaches, to mountain frogs and birds such as
the Black Parrot, which are endemic to
the Seychelles,” Payet said.
On the remote Aldabra atoll, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site more than
1,100 kilometres (685 miles) from the
main Seychelles islands, more than
100,000 wild giant Aldabra tortoises lumber and doze together in groups in the

baking sun. One of the biggest tortoises
in the world, the Aldabra is listed by the
International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN) as at risk of extinction, and
small but notable shifts in the climate
have sparked concern among experts.
“Climate change causes storm surges
and higher tides, both of which erode
the coast. As the sea warms up, it also
kills off the coral reefs, which provide
food for fish but also protect the coast
from the waves,” Payet said. The Aldabra
atoll lies only a few metres above the
turquoise waves of the Indian Ocean and
the fear is that rising sea levels and tropical cyclones may eventually swallow it
up, taking the giant Seychelles tortoises
with it.

“It’s not only the Aldabra which is at
risk,” said David Rowat from the
Seychelles marine conservation society,
which heads up a programme to tag and
monitor critically endangered Hawksbill
sea turtles on Mahe Island’s beaches.
“Hawksbills have always been hunted for
their shell to make tortoiseshell jewellery. Their numbers are low but we
have the fifth largest population in the
world here, and it’s imperative we act to
protect them,” he said.
Changes in temperature play havoc
with breeding patterns because the
Hawksbills, which live in tropical coral
reefs and have prominent hooked beaks,
tend to produce only females if the eggs
are left in a very warm nest, he said. “The

PRASLIN ISLAND: A green Gecko walks on a palm at Vallee de Mai natural
reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site. —AFP

warming also means there are violent
and more frequent storms. The turtles lay
their eggs in the sand, but if you have a
bad storm surge, you can lose big tracts
of sand and a whole season of nesting
turtles,” Rowat said.
“We move the nests we come across
to above the high water line on the
beach, but even doing that cannot
always protect them from a flash surge,”
he added. A significant part of the new
funds will go to projects aiming to protect and restore the coral reefs and shore
up the coastline against storms.
“The ideas we’re testing include using
wooden poles as a barrier to protect the
coast and replanting trees to help prevent erosion, as well as attempting to
regrow coral or transplant and grow
more resilient coral,” Payet said. The
Seychelles Islands Foundation which
manages the Aldabra atoll also works to
conserve the rare species at the Vallee de
Mai, a national park on Praslin island
home to Bulbul birds, fruit bats and
Seychelles Skink geckos among others.
Black Parrots swoop above a canopy of
towering palm trees with vast leaves,
feasting on fruit while brightly coloured
tree frogs and geckos lurk near the park’s
streams and dart over large moss-covered
boulders in the gorge. “The Black Parrot is
only found on Praslin. It is a beautiful bird,
but is at risk because changing seasons
can lead to a decrease in food,” Payet said.
Rising temperatures also bring another
danger to this picturesque island-the
palm leaves covering the forest floor
could catch alight. There’s a real risk of forest fires,” Payet said. — AFP

30

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

W H AT ’ S O N

Announcements
Talent launch
Kuwait’s Sabah Al-Ahmad Center for Giftedness and
Creativity (SACGC) called on to the Kuwaiti community to
come out and support its local young talented Kuwaitis by
visiting the “Mawaheb” gallery exhibition on March 15, 16,
and 17 at the Avenues Mall. The exhibition, created and
organized by SACGC, provides a platform for 15 of the top
Kuwaiti photographers, artists and musicians, to showcase
their talent directly to the community through unique,
signature performances, displays, and presentations.
SACGC General Manager, Dr Omar Al Bannai said,
“”Mawaheb” is a talent-driven exhibition that connect
Kuwait’s undiscovered talents to the community and
showcases to Kuwait some of the great art. “Mawaheb”
will kick-off on 7 pm on March 15 at the Avenues location
near Dean and Deluca in the presence of SACGC CEO, Dr.
Bader Al-Omar, Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement
of Sciences General Manager, Dr. Adnan Shihab-Eldin,
SACGC General Manager, Dr. Omar Al Bannai, and all
members of the SACGC Board of Directors.
Aware Seminar
The AWARE Center invites you to its diwaniya presentation today March 13 entitled, “The Fundamentals of
Islamic Banking & Finance” by Dr. Muhammad Al-Qattan.
Have you ever wondered what is Islamic Banking? How
is it different? What principals is it based on? Does it
work? Are there any benefits? Do you have to be Muslim
to have an account in an Islamic Bank? Come along to
AWARE’s diwaniya at 7pm on Tuesday 13th March when
Dr. Mohammed Al-Qattan will be discussing all these
issues and more. For more information, call 25335260
ext 0 / 104 / 105 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw or
email: saleha.aware@gmail.com “

BSK delights with Ocean Commotion

D

istinguished guests and the
school community were
enthralled by recent performances of Ocean Commotion at The British
School of Kuwait. Collaboration
between Primary staff produced a fantastic show in the Shakespeare Theatre.

Ocean Commotion wove a story around
themes of animal welfare and environmental protection, winning the hearts
of parents and students alike. The
underwater scenery and fantastic costume display were a sight to behold as
the children of 7-9 years old enacted the

story of a dolphin captured and an
ocean mistreated by humans. The tale
ended happily as the cast relayed their
message to all regarding environmental
conservation and animal welfare in an
hour-long showcase of BSK talent!
Director Richard McPherson and

Producer Lauren Huskings were
immensely proud of their team and
pleased to affirm the place of the creative arts in the unparalleled opportunities available to students.

Lecturers at AUK
The Center for Gulf Studies (CGS) will be organizing the
following events in March. Event Title: “The People are
Missing” Lecturer By Dr Mai Al Nakib, on March 21, 2012 at
6-9 pm, AUK Auditorium. Event Description: Dr. Mai AlNakib’s presentation looks at the Palestinian community in
Kuwait prior to the first Gulf War, and considers the ethical
consequences to Kuwait after their expulsion in 1991.
Event Title: City Images, on March 27, 2012, at 6-9 pm, AUK
Auditorium. Event Description: This talk presents the
issues surrounding the concept of ‘branding’ in relation to
the city states of the Gulf, such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and
Qatar. Event Title: “Energy Conservation” Lecture by Jim
Krane, on March 28, 2012 at 6-8 pm, AUK Auditorium.
Event Description: The speaker discusses the energy consumption issue in the Gulf. He examines the role of government, the population, and the barriers to promoting
less consumption and reforming the energy sector. All
events are open for public.
Exhibition
Under the patronage of HE Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah
Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Minister of Information President of
the National Council of Culture, Arts and Letters with the
support of TOTAL organised by Institut du Monde Arabe Paris in cooperation with Embassy of France-Kuwait Dar
Al-Athar Al-Islamiyyah will hold the exhibition “The
Golden Age of the Arab Sciences” tomorrow, March 14 at 7
pm, at the American Cultural Centre.
Desert get-together
A full day in the desert with the collaboration of the BBF
(British Business Forum), BLS (British Ladies Society),
ANZAK (Australians & New Zealanders), Diwaniya Italia
(Italians in Kuwait), UFE (French Community in Kuwait),
and the Lebanese community as well. It’s a get together
day with loads of fun and a chance to compete in a real
Paint Ball arena in the desert, participate in a mini football
tournament & volleyball tournament, and there will also
be many other activities such as ATV (Quads) Karaoke and
more! A BBQ buffet catering will be provided by Holiday
Inn Salmiya, and entertainment will be provided by DJ
Shatti and Chromatic Band). For more information and
early booking please call 5010-0734.
Latin Party
Sizzling Latin Party at the Swiss Hotel Plaza in Kuwait CIty
(next to Al-Mouthana Complex)! The “fiesta” will be on
March 16th, beginning at 8:30pm and will continue until
1:30am. For more information call Yolanda.
TIES Ladies Club
The TIES Ladies Club invites you to their Kuwaiti cuisine
cooking classes which will start soon. Join them for a one
month cooking program where you will learn to cook real
Kuwaiti food. All ladies are invited to join their classes and
let your family enjoy mouth watering Kuwaiti cuisine!
on March 15th - April 5th frpm 6 pm to 8 pm. For more
information/ registration: 2523-1015/6 or 97228860/9779-3440.
Quiz night
The TIES Center Ladies Club invites all ladies to an educational and entertaining quiz night session. Feel free to
come with your family and enjoy this fun night together.
Refreshments will be provided tomorrow March 14th from
6 pm to 7:30 pm. For more information/ registration:
2523-1015/6
What do you get...
When you mix African drums with a herd of elephants and
delicious food, to which you add lots of African music &
rhythms, unique fashion in a flavor of colors, a few drops
of a sleepy panther, a mini African market and just the
right amount of leopard spots... all sprinkled with inimitable African spirit? Come and find out on Thursday, 22
March At Holiday Inn Hotel (Salmiya), Al Dana Ballroom
from 7 pm - 10 pm For details regarding participation in
the kids’ contest “Best African Costume”, e contact Lorie
Beverly at lorie@indigoshadows-events.com

The Regency set to welcome world energy leaders

T

he Regency Hotel, Kuwait is the
appointed venue for the 5th
International Energy Business Forum
(IEBF) and the 13th International Energy
Forum (IEF), to be held in Kuwait City from
March 12-14, 2012, by Kuwait’s Ministry of
Oil, (MOO).
The IEF is the largest gathering of energy Ministers in the world, and its 88 member countries account for 90 percent of
global oil and gas supply and demand.
This strategic forum is attended by high

level ministerial representatives as well as
those multinationals involved in exploration and production of oil. The forum
provides an opportunity for all those related to the global energy sector to meet and
discuss issues and challenges affecting the
world. General Manager of The Regency,
Riaz Mahmood stated “The choice of The
Regency as the venue for this prestigious
international event is indeed a great honour. We are delighted to have such eminent representatives of the global energy

sector staying with us and we wish them
and the Ministry of Oil a successful and
fruitful forum”. Since mid-February, The
Regency has seen an enormous marquee
which has been erected to host the high
level officials; measuring almost 15m in
height it provides 2,400sq m of clear floor
space, and is the largest tent structure of
its kind ever erected in Kuwait. Similar
tents have been seen at some of the
region’s most prestigious major sporting
events including the PGA Abu Dhabi Golf

Tournament and the Al-Ain Air Show.
Most of the furniture - from the executive’s tables to waste paper baskets - has
been painstakingly tailormade by The
Regency’s very own team of skilled craftsmen in just over three weeks. The tent
offers a plethora of high-end facilities from
private meeting rooms to state-of-the-art
audio-visual and lighting. Due to this
important commitment The Regency will
be welcoming back its valued guests from
March 16, 2012.

Yoforia opens first branch in ME in Kuwait

F

ounded in 2007, Yoforia is a
self serve concept with six
machines serving over 12
flavours like Original, Pomegranate,
Mango, Pineapple, Chocolate,
Vanilla, Watermelon, Ferrero Roche
Cookies and Cream and also serving sorbets of Raspberry and
Strawberry. Yoforia also exclusively
for the Middle East have developed
Middle Eastern flavours such as
Dates, Pistachio Zaifron, Vimto and
Coffee.
Kuwait’s Industry and
Technology Co For General Trading
and Contracting ITC Chairman
Sheikh Yousef A Al-Sabah has
announced that ITC have taken the
franchise rights for the Middle East
and North Africa as the master
franchiser and have plans to open
branches in other GCC countries.
Yoforia will also open another
location in the Luxury Al-Hamra
Mall and Tower in Kuwait City. It is
currently the only self-serving
frozen yogurt concept in Kuwait
and also the only one that serves
12 flavours to meet the different
tastes of healthy Froyo lovers.
The current location in Kuwait
has been supported directly by the
USA , with Luke Tashie CEO, Paul
Paul Plocharczyk, Operations
Director, Erik Tashie Regional
Director and Sara, Chestnut Store
Development director.

—Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Kuwait Zoo hosts KNES students

T

he children of KNES Early Years recently visited the Kuwait Zoo. Children from Pre-School, Kindergarten and Reception, each visited the animals and built on their knowledge of animals and their habitats. The Early Years children are very appreciative of the staff of the Kuwait Zoo,
who help to make these trips memorable for the children between 18 months to 5 years.

31

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

W H AT ’ S O N

Embassy
Information
EMBASSY OF BRAZIL
The Embassy of Brazil requests all
Brazilian citizens in Kuwait to proceed to
the website www.brazil.org.kw (Contact
Us Form / Fale Conosco) in order to register or update contact information. The Embassy
encourages all citizens to do so, including the
ones who have already registered in person at
the Embassy. The registration process helps the
Brazilian Government to contact and assist
Brazilians living abroad in case of any emergency.
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Shell applauds winners of Kuwait
Engineering design competition

T

he Kuwait Engineering competition was concluded for the second
year at an awards ceremony that
took place on March 7, 2012, under the
patronage of Sheikh Talal Al-Khalid AlSabah, Managing Director of
Government, Parliament, Public
Relations & Media. Senior representatives from Shell Companies in Kuwait,
the Ministry of Education and the
Energy Center for Engineering
Consultancy, awarded the three winning
teams with cash prizes, commemorative
trophies and certificates at the
Petrochemical Industries Company
Boubyan Club Theatre.
The first place was secured by a team
from the Ahmad Al-Rubee High School
whose innovative Balsa Bridge design
was able to hold up to 72 KG of weight.
The second and third places went to

teams from the Universal American
School and the New English School,
respectively, who competed against 43
teams from all over Kuwait’s private and
public high schools.

Ahmad Atallah, Chairman &
Managing Director for Shell Companies
in Kuwait commented; “I am impressed
with the competition turn out for this
year and proud that Shell initiated such

activity. I believe that innovative thinking requires courage and taking on challenge, and this is the essence of this
competition. All participating teams
relied not only on their intelligence, but
they pushed their creative boundaries
further by testing their skills with the
“Balsa Bridge Design”. It is very encouraging to see so much young talent and
healthy competition spirit in Kuwait
that’s waiting to be discovered and I
hope this competition will encourage
students to pursue an education in
engineering”.
The Kuwait Annual Engineering
Design Competition has been a success
since its launch in 2010 and as part of
Shell’s corporate social responsibility
program that supplements other youth
development projects being carried out
in partnership with Kuwait University.

EMBASSY OF CANADA
The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa
24, Al-Mutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah.
Please visit our website at
www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is
open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through
Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30
to 01:00 pm for lunch break. Consular Services
for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00
A.M until 12:00 P.M on Sunday through
Wednesday. Canada offers a registration service for all Canadians travelling or living abroad.
This service is provided so that Consular
Officials can contact and assist Canadians in an
emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Canadians
of a family emergency at home. The Embassy
of Canada encourages all Canadian Citizens to
register online through the Government of
Canada Travel Website at www.voyage.gc.ca.
The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides
visa and immigration services to residents of
Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are
invited to visit the website of the Canadian
Embassy to the UAE at www.uae.gc.ca.
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EMBASSY OF CYPRUS
The Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus
requests Cypriot citizens living in Kuwait to
register with the Embassy has moved. This registration service is provided so that the
Embassy can update its contact list and assist
Cypriot citizens in cases of emergencies. Registration
information can be emailed to
cyprusembassykwt@gmail.com or faxed to 22253227
or given by phone to 65906048 (Mrs Christine).
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ACK to sponsor
education exhibition

A

ustralian College in Kuwait (ACK)
announced sponsorship of
Education Exhibition 2012, to be
held under the auspices of the Minister
of Higher Education, Dr. Nayef Al-Hajraf,
at the International Fair Grounds Mishref, from March 12-15.
On this occasion, Dr. Raghd Al-Kazmi,
Director of Students Affairs at ACK, stated: “The College is keenly desirous to
sponsor the Education Exhibition 2012,

for its positive reflections on high school
students, allowing them proper opportunity to familiarize with the disciplines
and programs provided by ACK to its
affiliates.”
“The mission of ACK is to enable individuals by maximizing their capacity in a
sponsoring environment. This mission is
based on academic principles to

empower a new generation of young
manpower with knowledge and personal skills,” she said.
“Accordingly, ACK provides academic
disciplines and system to global standards, in collaboration with a selected
partnerships with universities and colleges, whereby the graduates can attain
the opportunity to study for diploma or
bachelor degree in the various disciplines, such as mechanical and civil engineering, electronics,
communication, oil and
gas, aircraft mechanics
engineering (1.1B, as
well as Management,
marketing and human
resources. Graduates
obtain a degree from
ACK and partner universities,” she elaborated.
Dr. Al-Kazmi stressed
that ACK supports the
local labor market with
human resources that
are provided with scientific and practical qualifications in the areas of
engineering and management at diploma and bachelor levels
through a global system. In this process,
ACK established the “Project-based
Education” concept, which enhances the
students’ applied and professional skis
and their capability to work in several
fields. “The scientific side is one of the
most significant areas focused by the
education system in ACK,” she concluded.

Al-Jahra Copthorne Hotel & Resort
celebrates 4th anniversary

O

nnnnnnn

n March 3, the Al-Jahra
Copthorne Hotel and Resort,
part of the Millennium &
Copthorne Hotel group, celebrated its
4th anniversary with a staff party for all
employees and their families. Marking
four years of successful operation, the
staff party was a great chance for all
employees to celebrate the Al-Jahra
Copthorne Hotel & Resort’s successes
and to recognise the fantastic contribution that members of
staff have made over
the past four years.
Held in the hotel’s
Slayil ballroom, the party was attended by
more than 100 employees, from all nationalities, and their families.
Before the start of festivities, Dani Saleh,
General Manager of the
Al-Jahra Copthorne
Hotel & Resort, Don
Bombuwela Prasad
Chamara was named as
Employee of the Year
for his outstanding service to the hotel.
Chamara was chosen from a shortlist of
12 candidates for the title.
Each department had their moment
in the spotlight showcasing their talents, followed by competitions, games,
prizes and gifts galore. A great day was
had by all, adults and children alike.
Dani Saleh, General Manager at AlJahra Copthorne Hotel and Resort said:
“Our staff is what makes the Al-Jahra

Copthorne. From our reception staff to
our finance teams, it is them that keep
everything running smoothly. This is
our chance to say thank you to them for
all their hard work.”
Part of Millennium & Copthorne
Hotels, one of the world’s largest hotel
companies with more than 120 owned
and managed hotels across 20 countries, the Al-Jahra Copthorne Hotel and
Resort is located in Al-Jahra - a growing

T

Running each Friday until
March 30, a dinner buffet in
the Taima’a restaurant makes
the perfect evening setting to

say thank you to mothers.
With a special menu prepared
for the occasion, treat your
mother to a feast every Friday

EMBASSY OF MYANMAR
Embassy of the Republic of the Union of
Myanmar would like to inform the general
public that the Embassy has moved its office
to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, AlSalaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to
advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar
to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location.
Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, email:myankuwait11@gmai1.com
nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF NIGERIA
The Nigerian embassy has its new office in
Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For
enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com
or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk
nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF UKRAINE
We’d like to inform you that in response to
the increasing number of our citizens who
work in the state and the need for 24-hour
operational telephone in case of emergency the Embassy of Ukraine in the State of
Kuwait has opened “hotline telephone number” (+ 965) 972-79-206.
nnnnnnn

city within driving distance of the Saudi
Arabian border, 25 minutes from the
international airport and 20 minutes
from Kuwait City Centre. Part of the
‘Slayil Al-Jahra Tourist Resort’, the hotel
has access to a shopping mall, theme
park and numerous restaurants nearby.
It offers an attentive, personal service
as well as boasting business and convention centre services and an outdoor
pool.

Al-Jahra Copthorne Hotel’s Mother’s Day celebrations
he Al-Jahra Copthorne
Hotel and Resort, part of
the Millennium &
Copthorne Hotel group, is making March ‘Mothers’ Month’, in
celebration of Mother’s Day,
March 21. We all know that
mothers are the most hardworking people in the world,
and sometimes we do not have
the time to thank them enough
for all that they do for us. This
month, Al-Jahra Copthorne
Hotel & Resort is providing that
chance to take an evening to
tell your mother how much you
love her. As a thank you from
the hotel to mothers, for each
family of three or more, they
will eat for free at the Mothers’
Month buffet.

EMBASSY OF KOREA
The Embassy of the Republic of Korea
wishes to inform that it has moved to
Mishref. New Address: Embassy of the
Republic of Korea Mishref, Block 7A, Diplomatic
Area 2, Plot 6 The Embassy also wishes to inform
that it will be opened to the public on the following office hours: Saturdays to Thursday
Morning: 8:00 am to 12:30 pm
Lunch Break: 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm
Afternoon: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm

from 7 pm-11 pm. On Mothers’
Day, Wednesday March 21, a
special Mother’s Day buffet
will be laid on, giving you the
chance to treat your mother in
style.
Dani Saleh, General
Manager at Al-Jahra
Copthorne Hotel and Resort
said: “Taking time to thank
mothers for the invaluable
part they play in our lives is
something that we shouldn’t
just limit to one day of the
year. That’s why we have designated March as Mothers’
Month - our special buffet
offer is the perfect chance to
take time throughout March
to say a big ‘thank you’.”
Part of Millennium &

Copthorne Hotels, one of the
world’s largest hotel companies with more than 120
owned and managed hotels
across 20 countries, the AlJahra Copthorne Hotel and
Resort is located in Al-Jahra - a
growing city within driving
distance of the Saudi Arabian
border, 25 minutes from the
international airport and 20
minutes from Kuwait City
Centre. Part of the ‘Slayil AlJahra Tourist Resort’, the hotel
has access to a shopping mall,
theme park and numerous
restaurants nearby. It offers an
attentive, personal service as
well as boasting business and
convention centre services
and an outdoor pool.

EMBASSY OF VENEZUELA
Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, request Venezuelan citizens living in
Kuwait to register with the Embassy, This registration service is provided so that the Embassy
can update its contact list and assist Venezuelan citizens
in cases os emergencies. Registration Information
25324367 or by email: embavenez@gmail.com. Our
time is from Sunday to Thursday from 8.30am till 2 pm.
nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF THAILAND
The Royal Thai Embassy in Kuwait, wishes
to invite the Kuwaiti companies that deal
business with Thai companies or those
agencies of Thai commercial companies to visit
the Embassy’s Commercial Office to register
their relevant information to be part of the
embassy’s business and trade database. The
Royal Thai Embassy is located in Jabriya, Block 6,
Street 8, Villa No. 1, Telephone No. 25317530 25317531, Ext: 14.

Write to us
Send to What’s On
upcoming events, birthdays or
celebrations by email:
local@kuwaittimes.net
Fax: 24835619 / 20

James Martin’s Champagne
10 Years Younger
Fantasy Homes By The Sea
James Martin’s Brittany
James Martin’s Champagne
James Martin’s Champagne
Antiques Roadshow
Cash In The Attic USA
James Martin’s Champagne
French Food At Home
MasterChef Australia
MasterChef Australia
Bargain Hunt
Antiques Roadshow
Come Dine With Me
10 Years Younger
Holmes On Homes
Fantasy Homes By The Sea
Fantasy Homes By The Sea
House Swap
Bargain Hunt
Antiques Roadshow
Cash In The Attic USA
Cash In The Attic USA
James Martin’s Champagne
French Food At Home
French Food At Home
10 Years Younger
Holmes On Homes
Fantasy Homes By The Sea
Bargain Hunt

Overhaulin’
Ultimate Survival
Mythbusters
How Does It Work
How It’s Made
Dirty Jobs
Mythbusters
Alaska’s Great Race
Fight Quest
How Does It Work
Cake Boss
Border Security
Dirty Money
I Could Do That
I Could Do That
Overhaulin’
Ultimate Survival
Mythbusters
Cash Cab Us
Border Security
Dirty Money
How It’s Made
Rebuilding Japan
Cake Boss
Fight Quest
Freddie Flintoff vs The World
Scrappers
Carfellas

Engineered
Moon Machines
The Tech Show
Mega World
Superships
How Does That Work?
How Stuff’s Made
Science Of The Movies
Thunder Races
Moon Machines
The Gadget Show
The Gadget Show
How Does That Work?
How Stuff’s Made
Mega World
Superships
Engineered
Thunder Races
Moon Machines
Science Of The Movies
How Does That Work?
How Stuff’s Made
The Gadget Show
The Gadget Show
The Tech Show
Thunder Races
Engineered
Nasa’s Greatest Missions
Race To Mars
Meteorite Men
The Gadget Show
The Gadget Show
Thunder Races
Race To Mars
Meteorite Men

Cuba-PG
Illegal In Blue-18
Avanti-PG
In The Arms Of A Killer-PG
Charge Of The Light BrigadeGrow Old Along With Me-PG
Hell Boats-PG
It’s A Mad Mad World-FAM
The Pride And The Passion-PG
From Noon Till Three-PG
Joey-PG
Life Of Sin-18
Thunderbolt And Lightfoot-

Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy
Banged Up Abroad
Graham’s World
Destination Extreme
Somewhere In China
Perilous Journeys
Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy
Banged Up Abroad
Graham’s World
Destination Extreme
Somewhere In China
Perilous Journeys
Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy
A World Apart
Treks In A Wild World
Endurance Traveller
On The Camino De Santiago
The Music Nomad
The Green Way Up
Dive Detectives
A World Apart
Treks In A Wild World
Endurance Traveller
On The Camino De Santiago
The Music Nomad
The Green Way Up

00:00 Allen Gregory
00:30 The Daily Show Global Edition
01:00 The Colbert Report Global
Edition
01:30 Entourage
02:00 How To Make It In America
02:30 The Cleveland Show
03:00 The Simpsons
03:30 Mr. Sunshine
04:00 Dharma And Greg
04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay
Leno
05:30 The Simpsons
06:00 Just Shoot Me
06:30 Til Death
07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
08:00 Dharma And Greg
08:30 The Simpsons
09:00 The Simpsons
09:30 Two And A Half Men
10:00 Hot In Cleveland
10:30 Til Death
11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay
Leno
12:00 Just Shoot Me
12:30 Dharma And Greg
13:00 The Simpsons
13:30 Yes Dear
14:00 Mr. Sunshine
14:30 Hot In Cleveland
15:00 Two And A Half Men
15:30 The Daily Show Global Edition
16:00 The Colbert Report Global
Edition
16:30 Just Shoot Me
17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
18:00 The Simpsons
18:30 Mr. Sunshine
19:00 Two And A Half Men
19:30 Hot In Cleveland

20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay
Leno
21:00 The Daily Show With Jon
Stewart
21:30 The Colbert Report
22:00 Weeds
22:30 The Ricky Gervais Show
23:00 The Cleveland Show
23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Desperate Housewives
Breaking Bad
Top Gear (US)
Revenge
Bones
Live Good Morning America
The Good Guys
Emmerdale
Coronation Street
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Martha Stewart Show
The View
Desperate Housewives
Revenge
Live Good Morning America
The Good Guys
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Emmerdale
Coronation Street
Grey’s Anatomy
Private Practice
Royal Pains
Pillars Of The Earth
Bones

A commercial floor in
Salmiya. Close to Blajat. Car
parking. No middle men.
Tel: 66043961.
First floor in Shuhada, 4

For rent or investment,
medical clinics in Salmiya.
Good location licensed and
unlicensed. No brokers. Tel:
66060299.

34

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

stars
CROSSWORD 615

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19)
Career opportunities call out to you today. Push forward now—
go forward and conquer! Your energy is high and you feel vital. You
feel in harmony with yourself, the entire world and everybody in it. Others can feel
this, so they in turn are drawn to you, making this a successful day for any kind of
group endeavor. Best of all, relations with the opposite sex are at a peak. This is a super
day for just about anything that comes to your attention. This afternoon you will enjoy
the company of a friend. You attach importance to friendships and taking part in
group activities with friends. Harmony and beauty are deeply satisfying. Close personal ties to other people are a focal point for your feelings—marriage and other partnerships are key arenas for this.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)
Your great sense of fairness makes you a good judge or lawyer.
You may be able to bring a group together with words or ideas
that transport others. Refinement and relationships are the keys to emotional satisfaction now. Your base of security, which is your home and loved ones, is the place you
want to be this evening. Visiting with friends that come by your place or playing a
competitive game in your yard is the glue that keeps your friends communicative and
in-touch. Companionship with close family and friends is important now and you will
want to take every opportunity to keep this network of loved ones close to you. This is
a successful and fully packed day. Consider a walk with your family or loved one after
dinner and retire early tonight.

POOCH CAFE
ACROSS
1. Young sheep.
5. (of complexion) Blemished by imperfections of the skin.
10. (Roman mythology) Goddess of abundance and fertility.
13. A shade of blue tinged with green.
14. Botswanan statesman who was the first president of
Botswana (1921-1980).
15. Liquid excretory product.
16. (Norse mythology) God of light and peace and noted for
his beauty and sweet nature.
18. A public promotion of some product or service.
19. Variety of silica containing microcrystalline quartz.
21. A religious belief of African origin involving witchcraft and
sorcery.
23. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in
minute amounts in uranium ores.
24. The largest and southernmost island in the Marianas.
26. A decree that prohibits something.
28. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.
32. A lyric poem with complex stanza forms.
34. A chronic skin disease occurring primarily in women
between the ages of 20 and 40.
36. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.
37. A Dravidian language spoken in southern India.
41. Constituting or having to do with or suggestive of a literary epic.
43. Any of the forms of Chinese spoken in Fukien province.
44. A colorless and odorless inert gas.
45. A republic in southern Europe on the Italian Peninsula.
46. A Loloish language.
49. A very large person.
52. A solution containing a phosphate buffer.
54. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.
58. The seventh month of the Moslem calendar.
59. (botany) Of or relating to the axil.
61. (British) Your grandmother.
62. A period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from
a fixed point or event.
63. Small dry indehiscent fruit with the seed distinct from the
fruit wall.
65. A branch of the Tai languages.
66. Resonance of protons to radiation in a magnetic field.
67. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit
that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey
bread.
68. An agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World
Bank.
69. An international organization of European countries
formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and
increase cooperation among its members.
DOWN
1. Productive work (especially physical work done for wages).
2. Jordan's port.
3. Sterile offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.
4. A member of an agricultural people of southern India.
5. A state in northwestern North America.
6. Grayish baboon of southern and eastern Africa.
7. A coenzyme derived from the B vitamin nicotinic acid.
8. The square of a body of any size of type.
9. The capital and largest city of Bangladesh.
10. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a
common policy for the sale of petroleum.
11. A beautiful and graceful girl.
12. Stalk of a moss capsule.
17. Syncopated music in duple time for dancing the rumba.
20. The (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb.
22. A poplar that is widely cultivated in the United States.
25. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B
antigens.
27. A game in which numbered balls are drawn and random
and players cover the corresponding numbers on their cards.
29. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.
30. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.
31. In a competent capable manner.
33. A barrier constructed to contain the flow or water or to
keep out the sea.
35. Surpassing the ordinary especially in size or scale.
38. City in Sudan.
39. The longer of the two telegraphic signals used in Morse
code.
40. A member of a North American Plains people (now living
in Oklahoma and Wyoming).
41. A coenzyme derived from the B vitamin nicotinic acid.
42. A distinct part that can be specified separately in a group
of things that could be enumerated on a list.
47. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually
with vegetables.
48. (Hindu) A manner of sitting (as in the practice of Yoga).
50. Any physical damage to the body caused by violence or
accident or fracture etc..
51. Slightly open.
52. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).
53. (pathology) An elevation of the skin filled with serous fluid.
55. (prefix) Opposite or opposing or neutralizing.
56. King of Saudi Arabia since 1982 (born in 1922).
57. Small buffalo of the Celebes having small straight horns.
60. (informal) `johnny' was applied as a nickname for
Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American
Civil War.
64. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)
Your emotions are accented today. Emotions are great to warn
us when trouble is near or to enjoy the finer things in life. Remember
to set aside emotions when solving problems today and you will achieve most positive results. Good communication is sure to reign, no matter where you are today.
Plans take you where you want to go . . . travel could be available soon. There are
opportunities today to meet people that could help you, your profession or your family. An insight about your support system, your mother or other females may be important just now. Some sort of genealogy study brings to you an interest in family background. You could discover a student, neighbor or a young person that opens up to
you this evening.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

You are your usual expressive and sociable self today. There are
things you have always wanted to try but never had the time—you
are creative and curious. You make time for one personal project today. Originality and
invention are your tickets to breaking the barriers that hold others back from reaching
for that brass ring. The exchange of ideas becomes a focal point of your day. This could
include a conference or a trip to a new computer store during the noon break.
Learning, knowing a little about a lot of things, staying in touch and on top of the latest developments are what satisfies your need for mental stimulation. Neighbors and
brothers or sisters may join in some fun celebrations tonight. Young people bring
laughter to the table.

Leo (July 23-August 22)
This is a good time to celebrate! Relationships, professional and
personal, are the keys to emotional satisfaction now. Harmony is
deeply satisfying—and the lack of it may become emotionally unsettling. You are
learning to put the super-sensitive you in the past. The trials you have faced in the past
have given you the wisdom you need to deal with present and future trials. Being
human and understanding the human condition helps you to be an understanding
helpmate, co-worker and teacher. You are also learning to look past any emotional
maneuvers with compassion—yours or others. Close personal ties to other people are
important this day. You always try to be helpful when a friend needs help and today
someone needs your help.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22)
Your mind is in a receptive mode and ready for whatever projects are set before you today. In order to avoid any misunderstandings from a sensitive higher ranking person today, remove your own emotions—
come from the truth. Office politics may become disastrous conversations, so stay
away from it when at all possible. This time is a high achievement cycle. It is easy for
you to get-along, you are surrounded with people that want to achieve what you
have achieved. Keep moving forward to new goals. Social activity with co-workers,
friends or family is enjoyable this afternoon. You may have insights into the innerworkings of a loved one today. You help bridge a communication gap. This evening
you search for different ways to relax.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)
There is an instinctive push to be in control. This inner push
could lead to a greater interest in investing, management, teaching,
etc. Others value you for your ability to make smart decisions. You have a natural sense
of what the public wants and can express yourself well. Clear decisions affecting others could be made now. Some of your co-workers or customers may find you especially witty from time to time. Your sense of humor helps you make demands on others in
an acceptable manner. Others value you for your independence and unique qualities.
Romance and such creative pursuits as hobbies is an outlet for much of your energy
this afternoon. You want to plan out tomorrow’s schedule this evening—careful . . .
family interests may take priority.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)
Your attitude is positive and you look for ways to improve the
world. Mental stimulation from others is the key for you right now. A
group meeting this morning has you comparing the views of others and making suggestions of your own. You may gain attention for finding solutions to technical problems today. You have a tendency to enjoy working in group activities. You may display
an urge to be recognized by co-workers, but this could cause jealousy. This afternoon
you may desire to seek out a new friend or do something with a neighbor or relative
you have not seen in a long time. It is a good time to go out and witness the splendor
of nature. This could involve an interest in some social activities and pursuits like religion and volunteer work.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Yesterday’s Solution

The atmosphere is absolutely crackling with your own energy
today. Logic is important but could be forgotten if decisions are
made too quickly. Balance will return this afternoon. Practicality takes on a special
importance as you weed through the chores and demands of the day. You are in a
self-reliant mood—determined to move forward and accomplish much. You can
focus on your goals and know that you have a good chance of success. Keep alert and
do not be afraid to make your views known to bosses and other authority figures.
Friends or relatives are happy to drop in and join you for a snack and a fun get-together later today. Charm oozes from every pore and others enjoy being with you. Sharing
with others is favorable.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yester

Stay clear of financial propositions that involve risk-taking. It is
also not a good time for combining business with pleasure. However,
this workday is full of cheery, light-hearted people and you probably wish it was this
way more often. Everything seems to bring out your best qualities today. You may find
that your sales technique or job responsibilities move along in an easier fashion and
with successful results. You could come up with new solutions or inventions. Your psychic abilities are more prominent now and you enjoy the interaction with others.
Learning what makes people think the way they do is interesting but you should be
careful in expressing too many opinions. Close personal ties are important and enjoyable this evening.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18)
New ideas and an independent or pioneering mental orientation are the modes of expression today. Teaching, learning, communicating and social contacts have a way of outlining new directions in your life; there is
much activity and involvement with these kinds of issues. Challenging authority and
striving for success are on your agenda. Losing sight of the practical can make you
very artistic—but might not be so good for the bankbook. There is a need for caution
on the material and financial level. This evening is a good time to show your affection
to loved ones. Movies, poetry, books and all forms of escape could prove quite enjoyable this evening, particularly with a special loved one! You are surrounded by loving
people tonight.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth
Solution

Your focus this morning may be on celebrating some special
occasion in the workplace. You put in the hours and enjoy the company but this afternoon you go in a different direction. You may have said yes recently
to a volunteer organization and they are going to take you at your word—they need
your help. Perhaps you will be helping in some youth violence prevention or intervention program. Beginning a pilot project provides such services as anger management
and conflict resolution training, job training, employment, counseling, educational
assistance, victim awareness training, peer mentoring and substance abuse and
health services referrals. If you are not planning the organization, you will be there to
help. You are a positive influence to others.

POLICE STATION
Al-Madena Police Station
Al-Murqab Police Station
Al-Daiya Police Station
Al-Fayha’a Police Station
Al-Qadissiya Police Station
Al-Nugra Police Station
Al-Salmiya Police Station
Al-Dasma Police Station

French actor confirms
engagement to Berry
rench actor Olivier Martinez has confirmed that he and
Oscar winner Halle Berry are engaged to be married, the
Miami Herald reported. “Yes, of course it’s true,” Martinez
told the newspaper inan article posted online on Saturday, referring to engagement rumors that have been swirling around the
couple. Martinez, who was in Miami for the opening of his South
Beach restaurant, Villa Azur, also took the opportunity to set the
record straight on the designer of the engagement ring Berry
has been wearing since January. Contrary to reports that the
emerald ring is Gurhan-designed, it’s the creation of jeweler
Robert Mazlo from the actor’s native Paris, he said. The Mazlo
jewelers have been designing jewelry for “kings and queens for
many centuries,” Martinez told the paper. Berry and Martinez
have been dating since 2010, when they worked together on the
film “Dark Tide,” due for release this year. This would be the third
marriage for Berry, 45, who won a best actress Oscar for her role
in 2001 film “Monster’s Ball.” She was married to former baseball
player David Justice from 1993 to 1997 and to singer Eric Benet
from 2001 to 2005. She had a daughter, Nahla, who turns 4 this
month, with French-Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, with whom
she is embroiled is a bitter custody battle. For Martinez, 46, the
wedding would be his first. He has been involved with a number
of high-profile women, among them actresses Mira Sorvino and
singer Kylie Minogue.

F

Hemsworth
seeks advice from

Cyrus
iam Hemsworth gets career advice from
Miley Cyrus. The ‘Hunger Games’ actor who met the star while working on ‘The
Last Song’ in 2009 - admitted having a
famous girlfriend and brother, ‘Thor’ actor
Chris Hemsworth, makes working in
Hollywood “easier” to deal with. He said: “It’s
definitely nice to have people around me like
my brother and my girlfriend who have
experienced it before. To ask them questions,
it definitely makes it easier in that sense. “It
doesn’t make it any easier getting roles. It’s
just me in the room when I’m meeting directors and reading with directors.” However,
the 22-year-old hunk explained he worries
he could “lose focus” if he didn’t have the
support of his family and friends around him.
Liam added in an interview with Flaunt magazine: “You lose focus when you don’t have
good people around you. “I think whatever I
was doing in this world I would want a loving
family that supported me and friends, good
people around me that bring out the best.”

L

Fun day for Beyonce
and Jay-Z at NY concert
t was Sunday “fun day” for Beyonce and Jay-Z:
The new parents enjoyed a concert by R&B
singer The-Dream in New York. The top music
couple jammed to the singer-songwriter in the VIP
section of SOB’s, a small club that houses a few
hundred people. The-Dream co-wrote and co-produced Beyonce’s massive hit “Single Ladies (Put a
Ring On It).” He also worked his magic on Rihanna’s
“Umbrella,” Justin Bieber’s “Baby” and “Touch My
Body” by Mariah Carey. He performed a number of

I

his own hits Sunday night, including “Shawty In a
10,” “Falsetto” and “I Luv Your Girl.” He’ll release his
fourth album, “Love IV MMXII,” later this year. The
Grammy winner thanked the crowd for coming
out, saying: “I know some of ya’ll got kids at home.”
BeyoncÈ and Jay-Z gave birth to their daughter
Blue Ivy in January.

Minogue unsure about more kids

Cannon makes
health documentary

annii Minogue admits sleepless nights put
her off having more children. The 40-yearold TV star often thinks about having a sibling for Ethan - her 20-month-old son with partner
Kris Smith - but sometimes thinks it would be a
“stupid” idea because of the difficulties of raising
young children. She said: “I kind of think it’s a good
idea when I see a gorgeous little baby and I’m
thinking, ‘Oh I want a cuddle, a tiny little one again.’
“And then I think about all the sleepless night and I
think, ‘No bad idea, really stupid.’ “I don’t know everyone says to me when you have two and you
see them interact together that it brings even more
joy than just watching one child. But I don’t
know...” Dannii and Kris - an English rugby playerturned-model - relocated to her native Australia
last year because they wanted a stable environment for Ethan, and despite moving closer to her
family, the former ‘X Factor’ judge insists it wasn’t
her idea to make the move. She explained in an
interview with Britain’s HELLO! magazine: “We
wanted to set up a base so Ethan was settled. As
much as kids are very portable at a small age, you
also want to have some routine. “So we decided to
make Australia our base. In Melbourne, my parents are there, my brother is there with his kids, my sister
is there at the moment and Kris’ parents come out and visit us. “It was sort of Kris’ idea. He was like, ‘I
really love Australia, that’s where I see us being.’ And I’m a lot less stressed when I’m in Australia.”

D

ick Cannon has made a documentary about
his recent health problems. The ‘America’s
Got Talent’ host was hospitalized for kidney
failure in January, then again a few weeks later with
blood clots in his lungs, and has since been diagnosed with rare disease lupus nephritis, and has
documented his struggle in short film, ‘The
Incredible Health Hussle’. He told CNN talk show
host Piers Morgan: “The whole process I’ve been
documenting. Since probably my first time out of
the hospital in January, I’ve just been having the
cameras on. It’s real intimate and raw.” Nick - who
has 11-month-old twins Monroe and Moroccan
with his wife Mariah Carey - made the documentary
as a way to highlight health issues and help others
who are suffering. He added: “I want to kind of show
the other people that are dealing with these illnesses that they’re not alone. “There’s so many questions. How did you get this? How are you working
through it? “You’re going to see all of this in ‘The
Incredible Health Hussle’.” Nick also praised Mariah
for taking care of him and their children throughout
his ordeal. He said: “She is such a pro, she knows all
the home remedies.”

N

The Wanted

to appear in ‘Entourage’ movie
he Wanted are in talks to appear in the
‘Entourage’ movie. The ‘Lightning’ group which features Max George, Siva
Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, Tom Parker and
Nathan Sykes - hit it off with executive producer
Mark Wahlberg when they met him recently in
Barbados and he is keen to sign up the guys for a
role in the film version of the comedy-drama
series about a film star and his group of friends. A
source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “The boys
got on like a house on first with Mark when they
met him at Sandy Lane resort and they’ve kept in
touch. Mark is a big fan and wants them to star in
the film in some capacity. “The Wanted are hot
right now and Mark is right to want to capitalist
on that.” Speaking about the movie previously,
creator Doug Ellin said: “We’re going to do a
movie. We’re going to do it. It’s a question of
when and how quick. We’ll sit down and come
up with an idea.” Mark also agreed that a movie is
the next step for the show since people say the
episodes are too short. He said: “[Viewers] want
to go on a journey. ‘The Hangover’ to me is like
‘Entourage’.” The final episode of the TV series
aired last year after eight seasons.

T

DiCaprio
still looking for love

eonardo DiCaprio hasn’t found true love
yet. The Hollywood heartthrob is currently dating 22-year-old Victoria’s Secret
model Erin Heatherton and has previously
enjoyed relationships with actress Blake Lively
and models Bar Refaeli and Gisele Bundchen,
but doesn’t think he has met the love of his life
yet. Asked about his first love, he said: “My first
love? Boy I don’t even remember. I suppose if
I’d found my true love I would be married right
now wouldn’t I? “ Leonardo, 37, has very specific standards about what he wants in a girlfriend and is turned off by “pretentious” and
“vindictive” women. He explained to The Sun
newspaper: “Pretentious women really turn me
off. Vindictive women too. So do opportunistic
women. I think what turns me on about a girl is
what most men find attractive - which is something genuine about them. Being a good person.” Leonardo also revealed he will always
treasure the memories of working on 1997
blockbuster movie ‘Titanic’ and credits co-star
Kate Winslet for making it such a great experience. He said: “The fact that Kate said ‘yes’ was
the final decider. She was awesome. We were
definitely shoulders for each other to lean on.
We had to be partners on the film. All the complaining in the world was done between us
two, so we did not have to vent on anyone
else.” —Bang Showbiz

L

37

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

LIFESTYLE
M u s i c

&

M o v i e s

The ice sculpture of Twilight’s Bella Swan is filmed by media alongside the wax figures of other Twilight actors Robert Pattinson, right, and Taylor Lautner, left, at Madame Tussauds, London
yesterday. It’s the first time an ice sculpture has been on display at Tussauds London and has been created to mark the transformation, in the film, of Bella into an immortal as she is frozen in
time as an 18 year old. —AP

Houston s daughterhears mom talk to her
hitney Houston’s daughter on Sunday said
she still hears her mom encouraging her
“keep moving, keep going,” and the pop star’s
sister-in-law revealed new details of the day Houston
died in their first public interviews since the singer’s
death. Bobbi Kristina Brown, 19, told talk show host
Oprah Winfrey that she was “doing okay ... I’m doing as
good as I possibly can” since her mother was found
lifeless in the bathtub of her room at the Beverly Hills
Hilton hotel on Feb 11, the eve of the music industry’s
Grammy Awards. “I can hear her voice, you know, and
spirit talking to me, telling me, you know, ‘keep moving baby. I’m right here. I got you’ ... she’s always with
me. I can always feel her,” Bobbi Kristina Brown told
Winfrey. “I feel her pass through me all the time,” said
Brown, whose father is singer Bobby Brown. Houston
and Brown’s only daughter said she feels her mom’s
presence in the house they shared in Atlanta. The
“lights turn on and off, and I go ‘mom, what’re you
doing?’ ... I can still laugh with her. I can sit there and I
can still talk with her.” Houston was 48-years-old when
she died. She rose to fame in the 1980s and enjoyed a

W

long career that peaked with her 1992 hit “I Will Always
Love You” from the movie “The Bodyguard.”
But her life was plagued by a troubled marriage to
singer Brown, and she had previously admitted to
heavy use of cocaine, marijuana, alcohol and prescription pills. Officials have said prescription drugs were
found in the hotel room where she died, but a cause of
death is still pending toxicology tests which are
expected later this month. The interview, which took
place at the Atlanta home of Houston’s brother Gary
and sister-in-law and manager Patricia, revealed new
details of the day the singer died.
Face down in bathtub
Oprah opened the broadcast by saying “members
of the family told me she (Houston) was face down
and naked” in the bathtub, and Patricia revealed that
Houston’s assistant, Mary, discovered the singer’s body
in the hotel room bathtub. A security guard who is
Patricia Houston’s brother tried in vain to resuscitate
Houston in the room but was unsuccessful.
He was “trying to revive her to the point of exhaus-

Bobbi Kristina Brown and Oprah Winfrey
tion,” Patricia Houston said, “and I called his name. I
said, ‘Ray ... let it go.’ They (paramedics) asked him to
move. He was on his knees. He said, ‘I tried.’ He was so
out of breath.” A tear rolled down Patricia Houston’s
face as she recalled the sight of her sister-in-law lying
dead on the hotel room floor. “She had a peacefulness

Whitney Houston and Bobbi Kristina Brown

Crowd-financing plays starring role in SXSW films

‘Salmon Fishing’
hooks an audience
almon Fishing in the Yemen,” which
CBS Films hooked at last year’s
Toronto Film Festival, opened to a
strong $240,000 on 18 screens this weekend.
That’s an impressive $13,333 per-location average in a good weekend for specialty films past.
CBS Films had expected a $10,000 per-screen
average. “This is a film that not only could
attract an art-house audience and a commercial
upscale audience,” but a broader audience,
Steven Friedlander, CBS Films’ head of distribution, told TheWrap Sunday afternoon. “It is a film
that critics and audiences say, ‘This was enjoyable.’” The movie stars Ewan McGregor as a
British fisheries expert who’s brought to Yemen
by a sheik who dreams of introducing salmon
fishing to his country. Emily Blunt and Kristin
Scott Thomas also star. The comedy, written by
Simon Beaufoy and directed by the Swedish
filmmaker Lasse Hallstrom (“My Life as a Dog”),
is based on Paul Torday’s novel.
A handful of movies opened in limited
release this weekend, with generally good
results. “Friends With Kids,” from Roadside
Attractions, took $2.2 million at 374 locations;
“Footnote,” from Sony Pictures Classics, took
$48,076 at two locations; and “Jiro Dreams of
Sushi,” from Magnolia, took $43,500 at two locations. The most notable of the weekend’s
holdovers, The Weinstein Company’s Oscar winner “The Artist,” took $2.3 million at 1,505 locations. That put it past the $40 million mark.
The PG-13 movie is now in its 16th week of
release, and clearly is slowing down. The
Weinstein Company expects it to end its theatrical run with between $45 million and $50 million. Just below “The Artist” at the box office this
weekend was “Friends With Kids.” The R-rated
comedy, starring Jon Hamm, Kristin Wiig, Maya
Rudolph, Chris O’Dowd, Adam Scott, Megan
Fox, Ed Burns and writer-director-producer
Jennifer Westfeldt, saw a bump of 53 percent
from Friday to Saturday, and Roadside
Attractions is expanding the film to 600 locations next weekend. “Footnote,” a comic drama
about Talmudic scholars, is the Israeli film nominated for the best foreign-language Oscar, and
“Jiro Dreams of Sushi” is a documentary about
renowned sushi chef Jiro Ono. —Reuters

on her, a look on her. She had a peaceful look,” Patricia
Houston said. Winfrey asked Patricia Houston if she
believed drugs were involved in the singer’s death.
Patricia Houston said she believed the pop star’s worse
days of drug abuse were behind her, although she
stopped short of saying Houston was not on drugs or
drinking on the day of she died. “I don’t think drugs
(were) an issue for her before her death. I don’t know
what happened that day. Do you understand what I’m
saying,” Patricia Houston said. Finally, Winfrey asked
Houston’s brother Gary whether Brown, whom
Whitney Houston divorced in 2007, was asked by
Houston’s family not to attend the singer’s funeral and
Gary replied “Absolutely not.” Brown did turn up for the
funeral, but left early, blaming a mixup with security
over seating. He said his family was not angry about a
picture of Houston in her casket that was printed in
the tabloids following her death, and added that his
mother long ago had premonitions about a young
demise for his sister. “I remember my mother used to
say ... Whitney’s not going to be with us too long,” Gary
Houston said. “She’s an angel. She’s a gift.” —Reuters

he film “Girl Walk // All Day” opens on a
blonde girl joyfully dancing past unimpressed New Yorkers on the Staten
Island Ferry. Moving to the remixed beats of
the DJ known as Girl Talk, she and other
dancers breeze through New York’s urban
spaces - Central Park, the financial district,
Yankee Stadium - turning the city into a playground. Just as “Girl Walk // All Day” transforms familiar landscapes, the source of
much of its funding - the crowd-financing
website Kickstarter.com - has electrified the
traditional structures of filmmaking. “Girl
Walk // All Day,” a dance-music film not easily
categorized, was enabled by Kickstarter. After
creating an eight-minute Internet video, the
movie’s director, Jacob Krupnick, put in a
request to Kickstarter’s community for various levels of investment from interested fans.
With options like $50 for an associate producer credit and $500 for a dance lesson, he
hoped to raise $5,000. He got nearly five
times that. “Kickstarter came at a really
opportune moment in my life when I needed
it,” says Krupnick, a filmmaker and photographer. For the last month, he’s been touring
the film at different venues around the country, where screenings often turn into dance
parties. It’s one of 33 Kickstarter-aided films
at the South By Southwest Film Festival.
That’s a full 10 percent of the festival’s entire
slate, an eye-opening total that shows what a
significant role the nearly three-year-old
Kickstarter is playing in financing indie films.
Even SXSW Film head Janet Pierson was surprised when she heard the number.
“I’m fascinated that this is a viable tool, or
seems to be,” says Pierson, who produced
indie films in the ‘80s and ‘90s. “How great
that this vehicle exists that’s working for all
these filmmakers. I didn’t know that it would
be so viable.” Certainly, the budgets for even
small films often get into hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Typically,
Kickstarter funds makes up a portion of a
film’s budget. And most of the Kickstarter
films still struggle to find theatrical distribution and promotion. But it’s undoubtedly
emerged as a realistic option to help get a
film made. In making a movie, every little bit
helps. “It’s gone from being possibly a novelty, a different way of doing things, to becoming much more of a tool, much more of a
standard thing that people think about,” says

T

“S

Jeffrey Tambor, center, conducts his acting workshop with students Matthew Newton, left, and Kate Sheil during the SXSW
Film Festival and Conference in Austin, Texas, on Sunday. —AP

Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler. “It’s
giving audiences the power instead of executives.” Kickstarter, the leader among crowd
funding companies, has funded 19,000 projects in its three years. It funds a variety of
things, including music albums, tech products and art projects. Projects are only funded if they reach their target amount.
Kickstarter doesn’t have any piece of ownership in the finished product, but they take 5
percent from successful funding. (Amazon
Payments, which facilitates the financial
transactions, also takes about 3-5 percent.)

the refusal of other avenues for financing.
Often, they reveal perspectives not customarily embraced by film distributors.
“Gimme the Loot,” is about a pair of Bronx
graffiti artists. It came to SXSW with days left
to reach its funding goal. As of late Sunday, it
needed about $1,200 in about a week. “Blue
Like Jazz,” based on a bestselling memoir by
Donald Miller, was on the brink of collapse
after an investor dropped out shortly before
production was scheduled to begin. Director
Steve Taylor was soon going to lose his star
actor, Marshall Allman (“True Blood”), so the

Tambor carries on
annual tradition at SXSW
longside rooms peopled with
visions of technological futures
and carefully calibrated self-promotion, Jeffrey Tambor is urging two
young actors to scream and wrestle with
each other. This has become an annual
tradition at South By Southwest, the yearly tech, film and music gathering in
Austin. Tambor, the booming baritone
character actor of “Arrested
Development,”“The Larry Sanders Show”
and many films, has hosted his acting
workshop, “Performing Your Life,” for the
past five years. The contrast of Tambor at
SXSW can be stark. Tambor’s only gadget
is a microphone. He has little interest in
hyping his career. And he refuses to present himself as a divined oracle of certainty. Instead, he simply coaches two young
actors before a crowd of SXSW attendees,
repeatedly insists on disrupting his elevated platform by having the house lights
turned on, and rambles through an inspirational and intentionally chaotic 90minute riff on acting and, ultimately, one’s
attitude in life. He denied ownership of
the lessons he teaches, noting they’re
ones he’s “tripped on all my life.”“I cannot
tell you how important attitude is during
this little thing that we’re doing,” Tambor
said. “What I’m interested in is attitude on
the set and care and maintenance of
directors, actors, writers. Especially when

A

you have no money, especially when
you’re behind. Just especially.” In what followed, Tambor touted, above all, the
importance of confidence, friendly collaboration and positive reinforcement. He
urged his two actors to push outward in
different directions everything from
“over-act” to “do a French accent” - make
mistakes and mess up their performances
to find them.
A sampling of his encouragements:
l “There’s no such thing as a finished
performance.”
l “You know what I think of sincerity? I
hate it.”
l “Resistance is hard. ... ‘Atta boy’ is easy.”
l “Don’t make waves? Make waves.”
l “Confidence is the game. ... It’s the
game in life and art.”
l “Just play. Lighten up.”
This year’s workshop drew hundreds
of SXSW attendees. The crowd, easily
filled by more non-actors than performers, had questions about Tambor’s old
late-night sidekick character Hank from
“Larry Sanders” (“He’s kind of real to me. ...
I loved him very much”) and the planned
“Arrested Development” movie (“They
better hurry because I will be in a walker”). But most were transfixed by Tambor’s
candid musings, and applauded the
workshop he had sucked them into. He
closed: “See you next year.” —AP

This image provided by Wild Combination shows Anne Marsen in a
scene from the dance-music film “Girl Walk // All Day.” —AP
Still, movies have been its biggest success. Of
the first $140 million pledged via Kickstarter,
$50 million was for movies. Earlier this year at
the Sundance Film Festival, 17 films with
Kickstarter backing played. The festival and
the site announced a three year program
with the artist development nonprofit
Sundance Institute.
Recently, Kickstarter has, for the first time,
repeatedly crossed the $1 million mark in
funding a project. Strickler says the last four
months have been “particularly nuts.”
“Kickstarter growing and getting bigger
means that more and more projects are having success, more things are able to exist in
the world that maybe wouldn’t have otherwise,” says Strickler. “Those are people’s
dreams.” Sometimes, the final results validate

film needed to be shot soon. Taylor asked for
$125,000 on Kickstarter with another investor
offering to double what was raised. “It was far
and away, at that point, the biggest goal anyone had set at Kickstarter,” says Taylor.
“Frankly, it just seemed impossible.”
The film raised a record $346,000. It will
be released this April by Roadside
Attractions. Certainly, its success has something to do with its Christian themes. Allman
plays a 19-year-old Texan who embarks on
college in the Pacific Northwest, where his
Christianity sticks out like a sore thumb.
“Kickstarter proved there was an audience for
it,” says Taylor, who pledged a personal thank
you phone call to anyone who contributed
$10 or more. About a month ago, he finally
finished the last of some 3,500 calls. —AP

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

lifestyle
F a s h i o n

I

n home decor, there’s something about the
start of spring. When life’s renewing itself outdoors, we feel the urge to revive our interiors
too. This season, decor offerings are especially
upbeat. Start with the palette. “Saturated” is a
word being used a lot; it means ripe plum hues,
intense tangerines, rich indigos, verdant greens,
zingy turquoises, hot reds and peppy yellows.
Dee Schlotter, a color expert with PPG
Pittsburgh Paints,

In this product image released by Z Gallerie, Inc, a Liliana
chair featuring an ironwork pattern of grey and white large is
shown. — AP photos
says exuberant orange is No 1 on her trend
radar. “It’s full of joy and playful,” says Schlotter,
who also cites Geranium Pink as a hot hue. “It

goes really well with orange, and it’s a happy,
girly color.” Teal and turquoise are back after a
lengthy retirement, and with experience in midcentury modern and traditional decor, they’ve
got legs that will carry them into fall. Erin Olson
loved the color family enough to devote a blog
to it; the House of Turquoise follows all things
blue-green.
“What I love about turquoise is that it can be
paired with any other color, since it has both
warm and cool undertones,” she says. “My personal favorite is using turquoise as a fun punch
of color to an otherwise neutral space. A
turquoise throw pillow, lamp or rug will instantly
bring new life to your room, and can easily be
switched out,” she says. Crisp clean white’s a
common counterpoint, but you’ll see black as a
foil as well. Graphic prints pop in these bold colors: Zigzags and stripes are all over the home
accessories marketplace. So are lattice and ironwork prints; big and little florals; and abstracts.
African handblock, Moroccan and Silk Road patterns have crossed over from last season.
Not a fan of bright? Look for a whole world of
calming neutrals such as soft putty, grellow (a
gray/yellow blend), greige (a gray/beige), aqua,
pewter, copper, vanilla and shell pink. You’ll see
lots of texture in this category: weathered wood,
animal hide, burnished metals, burlap and gauzy
cottons. Honeycomb patterns, naturalistic motifs
like twigs, leaves and birds, watery Impressionist
prints and airy florals soothe the soul.
Neutrals are “taking the popular gray trend
and moving it forward, by adding warmth with
natural materials like jute and linen, and then
giving it a real punch by adding a sunny pop of
yellow,” says Sherwin-Williams’ color marketing
director, Jackie Jordan. Repainting walls in a
fresh spring hue is one way to update a room,
but if you’re not ready to commit in a major way,
small changes can also alter a room’s mood. Try a

lemony throw, clean white paint trim, a teal rug
or sandy-toned drapery.
Go for a bright, candy-hued lamp base, and
pick the color up again in a big fruit bowl. In the
kitchen, replace cooking tools with new ones in
luscious tomato red. Flor’s new spring collection
of floor tiles features Fedora, in a soothing
palette of dusty turquoise, oatmeal, walnut and
flannel. Used in a bedroom with lavender, cream
or pale pink textiles, you’d wake up to spring’s
birdsong in the most serene of sleeping spaces.
Land of Nod has a cheery Watermelon Stripe
duvet cover in a rainbow of fruity hues, as well as
the Dot Matrix rug, composed of hundreds of
rolled felt balls like colorful gumballs.
Black and white geometrics make a dramatic
statement - you’ll find them on dinnerware,
patio umbrellas, candles and awning stripes at Z
Gallerie, including a very Jonathan Adler-esque
vase made of lacquered bamboo. IKEA is offering
its Expedit shelving in fire engine red; there’s the
new Varmdo rocking chair in the hue, too.
Loll Designs’ cubby bench comes in a pretty
grass green. And CB2’s Go-Cart desk in vibrant
blue would be a fun place to work. Their Parlour
atomic orange chair adds energy to a neutral
room. Pier 1’s Liliana armchair has an ironwork
pattern that’s recurring in textiles and furniture
detail this season. The Annie Black Bird wingback
chair features a dramatic black and white nature
motif that would pop against dark or white walls
and wood floors. And a hanging lamp in caramel
with leaves rendered in gold is the perfect addition to a restful room filled with tawny hues.
If you like strong pattern but prefer quiet colors, consider BlissLivingHome’s muted deep sea
and celery chevron reversible Maru throw.
DwellStudio’s got a new collection of zigzag flatweave wool and cotton rugs in lapis and citrine.
And Galbraith & Paul’s loop-embellished velvet
pillows come in gentle shades of coral and nut-

An Annie Black Bird chair in
crisp black and white with a
nature motif.
meg. A hammered brass stool from India makes
a cool side table, from Wisteria; there are Kuba
cloth chocolate and white throw pillows and a
great collection of cowhide stools, trunks and
benches here, too. — AP

F

B

ossini Spring Summer ’12 Collection is
geared up for all the excitement it has to
offer young kids, ladies and men. Aspire to
the lavish bright colors this summer and explore
the tribal patterns and intense embroidery with
the dash of lace for a real change. Bright blue, rose
pink, sunny orange and capturing gold are all in
this season; reach over for the all over printed slip,
knitted dresses and beautiful floral blouses if you
aim for a striking feminine look. For a fabulous
style on the beach, Bossini’s white denim capris,
hot pants, and check tanks are perfectly tailored to
your fashion trend this season.
Kids are promised a happy, fun and joyful summer with the delightful clothing line by Bossini this
season. Children will love the new Moto Extreme
theme, with road signage polo shirt, distressed
rolled up jeans/ shorts, multi colors checker shirts
and cargo shorts outfits. Besides, Urban Mariner
theme infused with a blend of preppy. Slightly
twists on classic smart style with the updated sailor
stripes. The colors mix of solid red, royal, navy,
green and creamy white with a hint of red to compliment the summer energy. In Romantic Mariner
theme, we ride the nautical wave combining the
smart casual looks, classic sailor stripes blend with
funny cartoon graphics, seagull and florals in a traditional palette.
Pretty artsy dresses with cute accessories will
draw a smile on your little ones, while boys will
match their dads’ style with the line of cotton tops
and cargo pants all sizzling with beach colors,
relaxing tropical shades, and comfy denims just to
add to the inspiring cartoon tops to wrap it all.
Ladies summer fashion by Bossini this year is all
about great taste inspired with Leisure - French
Sailor theme consisting of bold stripes, polka dot,
graphic of sea-shore, boat wheel & navy’s ropes
with all over print tunic shirt, dip dye print tee and
ankle length cargo pant. The season’s floral theme

happened in a garden with natural greens and
flowery bright colors all over floral printed tunic
blouse in crepe fabric lace, tee ?light weight, poplin
pant in loose fit & wooden button.
There are brighter and fresher colours for Spring
opening, all over print pattern of star and dots
graphic give surprises to the range, cotton poly
double, breast short jacket, coordinated cigarette
pant and bold stripe printing on poly satin easy top
maintain the feminine side of a cool lady. For a
complete ravishing look, don’t miss the tapered
skinny and super skinny jeans with the printed
long-body, colorful thread stitches design , light
weight parka jackets, madras extraordinary light
weight shirt , slim fit top to add to your shopping
basket this summer.
Men’s summer fashion by Bossini this year is all
about great taste inspired from retro naval style.
Key garments include Sailor & pier. Key Items:
Marine Stripe is the key word of this season, we
offer up a diverse selection of stripe style including
stripe sweatshirt with toggle detail, special print
tee & polo which work best with naval jacket.

ans of Rachel McAdams may know her best
for roles in romantic movies, with appearances in films such as “ The Vow,” which
opened Friday, and the tear-jerker “The Notebook,”
but the Canadian actress also has a talent for high
fashion. From her first appearance at the 2011
Cannes Film Festival in a sheer, red lace embroidered Marchesa gown, the fashion world took
notice. Other notable festival attire included a hot
white Maxime Simoens dress and Monique
Lhuillier high-waisted raw silk trousers with nude
sequined corset from the designer’s spring 2011
collection.
McAdams once again put herself on the fashion
radar at the Los Angeles premiere of the new film
“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.” She wore an
electric blue short-sleeve knit top and floral maxi
skirt from the Peter Som spring 2012 collection.
The vibrant floral print could easily transition
from a premiere to a daytime brunch with strappy
sandals. For a comparable floral print skirt, try the
Velvet floral maxi skirt from Forever21.com for
$20.99, Carnaby sheer maxi skirt by Mink Pink from
Threadsence.com for $94.50 or the Glamazon floral
maxi skirt by Cheap Monday for $44, also from
Threadsence.com.
McAdams’ knit top could be replaced by any
number of colored T-shirts or blouses, but for a
similar blue get the basic scoop-neck tee from
Loft.com for $16.50 or the Mossimo Supply Co.
juniors scoop-neck tee in oxygen blue from
Target.com for $8.
On the runway, McAdams’ Peter Som look was
shown with a pale blue pair of strappy sandals. For
the premiere, she chose to accessorize with a blue
snakeskin clutch and black Anouk pumps by
Jimmy Choo. Snakeskin can be a bit pricey, but
you can achieve the same look with any patterned
or embellished colored clutch such as the Top
Choice sequin clutch from Nordstrom.com for $20
and any pair of solid-colored heels. — MCT

Get a look similar to what she
has worn at film
festivals with
this Top Choice
sequin clutch
($20 at
Nordstrom.com).

Get a look similar to what she has worn at film
festivals with this velvet floral maxi skirt
($20.99 at Forever.21.com). — MCT photos

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

lifestyle
F a s h i o n

A toddler girl wrap dress in black, green,
white, orange and pink.

DVF starts courting
them young at Gap

A girl’s T-shirt dress in blue and white.

T

A baby girl wrap romper in green and
white.

oday’s little girls are probably the
wrap-dress wearers of the future, so
why not just start them young? Gap
tapped Diane von Furstenberg, who has
built her business on easy-to-wear, cheerful
wrap dresses, for a limited-edition girls collection that arrives in US stores next week.
It’s another designer label for the kids’ closet, joining the likes of Gucci, Stella
McCartney and Burberry.
When first approached by Gap, however,
von Furstenberg said no. “I always thought I
didn’t want to do children’s clothes,” von
Furstenberg said in a telephone interview.
“I did do a little in the ‘70s, but I stopped
because I wanted girls to take their time to
grow up to be women.” But then she
thought about taking colors and prints,
and making them stylish in an age-appropriate way. She is pleased with the results,

describing the wrap rompers, T-shirt dresses, capri leggings and other items as the
right balance of fun and practicality, she
said.
Von Furstenberg was the right partner
to go after, said Art Peck, president of Gap
North America. She’s surefire buzz and fashion credibility, he said. Although he joined
the company after the project was in the
works, he said she would have been at the
top of his list, too, because both brands aim
for a straightforward style instead of garments that are fussy or uncomfortable. Gap
is looking to get back to its roots after some
years of declining sales.
“Diane von Furstenberg has a successful
women’s business and she didn’t want to
compete with that, but kids was new to her,
and she has grandchildren,” Peck said. “A 5year-old doesn’t know Diane von

In this product image released by
GapKids + DVF, designer Diane Von
Furstenberg poses with children
wearing her designs.

Furstenberg but mom certainly does.” Gap
previously collaborated with McCartney on
kids’ clothes, and Peck said more deals
might come sooner rather than later. “There
are a number of irons in the fire.” There’s
something to be said for building brand
loyalty young, he explained. “I’d like to get
them as Gap customers the moment they
come out of the hospital as a baby and stay
with us the rest of their lives.” — AP

wo different camel beauty contests were
held on Sunday in Al-Roudhatain (north)
with an unprecedented attendance. The
event was organized as part of the Popular
Heritage Festival which will last till March 24,
2012. The competitions featured camels from
the breed known as ‘Al-Mujaiheem,’ popularly
used by Bedouin tribes. The first competition
was held in the 50-camel herd category featuring five camel breeders, while the second competition was held in the solo category featuring
30 contestants from Kuwait and the Gulf
Cooperation Council countries.
“In this year’s competitions, winners of the
Um Ruqaiba (competitions) held in Saudi Arabia

A

rare Chinese imperial ceramic
bowl that was made around
900 years ago and could
fetch $10 million when it goes
under the hammer next month has
triggered huge excitement among
Asian art collectors. The interest
generated by this small, modestlooking flower-shaped bowl- and its
potentially sky-high sales price-are a
testament to the vitality of Asia’s art
market, which has witnessed explosive growth over the past decade.
The antique was due to go on public display in Beijing over the weekend on a pre-sale roadshow. But
organizers, fearing a stampede after
it drew big crowds in Shanghai,
decided at the last minute to show
it to potential buyers only.
“An object has rarely generated
so much excitement and for security
reasons, we thought it would be
preferable for our clients to view it
within the confines of a private
room,” said Nicolas Chow, deputy
head of Sotheby’s Asia division. The
flower-shaped “Ru” bowl from the
Northern Song dynasty (960-1127)
sports a pale blue-green translucent
matte glaze that imitates the color
of jade, and is believed to be the
only one of its type in the world.
“Ru” ceramics-named after one of
five large kilns operating under the
Song-are the rarest in China, and it
is estimated that only 79 complete
pieces remain in the world, most in
museums. “There are very few of
these as they were imperial pieces
and also because they were made
over a very short period of time —
20 years,” Jean-Paul Desroches, curator at the Guimet Museum in Paris,
told AFP.
There are only six “Ru” ceramics in

are also making their presence felt,” said Sheikh
Sabah Fahad Al-Nasser, Head of the judging
committee. Sunday’s competitions follows on
the heels of four other camel beauty contests
held since the beginning of the Popular Heritage
Festival on March 1.
The contests also provide trading opportunities with breeders. According to Al-Nasser, the
trade activity also increased this year, adding
that a breeder was offered KD 1 million for one
of his camels.
Meanwhile, the Arabian sheep beauty contests resumed on Sunday with a competition
held for the Al-Ardhy breed. Kuwaiti contestants
notched the five top spots. The first place went

private collections, including this
bowl-probably intended for washing brushes after writing-which
could fetch up to HK$80 million
($10.3 million) at Sotheby’s auction
in Hong Kong on April 4. “We sell
incredibly rare objects, but this is a
different realm of rarity,” said Chow.
“These are objects that... barely 100
years after they were made were
already deemed to be extremely difficult to obtain.” As such, the bowl
has generated a huge buzz among
collectors and art lovers in China,
and visitors who had flocked to
admire the prized antique on
Saturday were disappointed not to
be able to see it. “I’m unhappy. An
auction house must exhibit its
pieces,” said He Tao, a porcelainlover who had come from the northeastern city of Dalian-some 1,000
kilometres away by railway-to see
the bowl in a luxury Beijing hotel.
Chow said imperial porcelain
pieces are of particular interest to
Chinese collectors, amid a boom in
Asia’s art market. “In the last ten
years, we have seen a big leap in
prices and that’s mainly due to the
dramatic entrance of mainland
Chinese collectors into the market,
particularly since 1999,” he said.
Experts say the buyer of the “Ru”
bowl will likely be a rich individualperhaps from Hong Kong or Taiwanor even a billionaire from the West,
where the simplicity of Song masterpieces is widely admired. “All
major academic (researchers) and all
big collectors cannot help but feel a
thrill (about the bowl),” said
Christian Bouvet, an Asian art specialist at Sotheby’s.
He pointed to the color of the
bowl, which an advisor to the

37

to breeder Mohammad Al-Mutairi who won the
KD 4,000 grand prize, followed by Fahad Al-Azb
who was awarded KD 2,000, while Adel Al-Otaibi
too home KD 1,500 as the third place prize.
The Popular Heritage Festival is an annual
event featuring traditional sports and activities
of Bedouin nature. Different types of beauty contests for camels, sheep and falcons are held. An
equestrian race, Arabian horse beauty contests
are also held at the Hunting and Equestrian Club,
in addition to fishing competitions organized by
the Fishermen’s diwaniya in Al-Fintas, Salmiya
and Wuttiya.

Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722) in the
later Qing dynasty famously
described as similar to the blue tint
of the sky after it had rained. After
Beijing the bowl, which has about
the same diameter as a DVD, will be
exhibited to the public in the
Taiwanese capital Taipei. “ The
Taiwanese are probably among the
most sophisticated collectors in the
field of Chinese art,” said Chow.
“They’ve been buying for a long
time, they are at a stage where they
are not building collections... they’ll
pick something extraordinary to
raise their collection.”— AFP

K

aren Briskey gently rubbed Ellie’s head,
then her back. Not long ago, this would
have been all but impossible. The 7-yearold Arabian mare didn’t like to be touched, even
by her own foal. So when Ellie was set to have
another foal, owner Barb Hoover-who runs
Yellow Rose Arabian Horses-called Briskey, one
of a growing number of massage practitioners
who work with animals. “I decided I needed to
do whatever I could to make sure Ellie took to
(this foal),” Hoover said on a recent evening. The
massage sessions seemed to have worked. Ellie’s
new colt, Captain, born about three weeks ago,
hardly left his mother’s side.
Hoover watched as Briskey kneaded her
hands from Ellie’s mane to her tail. “There you
go,” she said soothingly to the horse as she
worked. “That’s much better.” Briskey, 44, has
been certified in small and large animal massage since 2008. Her range of clients includes a
Pomeranian with an injured leg and Ellie the
equine.
She’s also licensed to work with people and
calls her business Two ‘n Four Legged Massage.
She didn’t set out to be a massage practitioner;
she spent several years working in ground service for an airline. But friends who received her
amateur massages encouraged her to pursue it
as a career.
Folding animals into her clientele was a natural progression. She grew up around them; her
dad, William Briskey, is a veterinarian. “Their
intentions are so pure,” she said of her animal
clients. “If they tell you they don’t like you, they
don’t like you. You can maybe help them around
that.” Briskey lets one of her own animals in on
the massage act.
She’s had Banjo, a towering quarter-horse, for
about 11 years and regularly brings him to Life
Care Center of Puyallup, Wash., and other senior
facilities. His visits are a form of therapy for residents; they feed him apples, stroke his mane,
lead him around.
When they turn their backs to him, he does
his own version of massage, nuzzling his nose
into their necks. “They love it,” Briskey said,
showing off photos of a recent visit.

“It just completely soothes people,” said
Daisha Cruz, activities director at the Puyallup
center. “It makes them feel more at home.”
Briskey said she feels lucky to be able to work
with animals and do what she loves. She hopes
to expend her practice, which now includes
about a dozen regular clients, as the economy
improves.
At Yellow Rose, she spent about an hour
working with Ellie. When she was done, she
turned her attention to the colt, Captain. Like his
mom, he was scared to be touched. Briskey took
a step forward and reached out to him, but he
flinched and darted back, his spindly legs turning him in circles. Briskey kept inching closer,
extending her hand. Captain kept darting away.
After several minutes passed, he let her
touch his nose. Then his head. Eventually, she
started rubbing his back. She spoke gently to
him, like she had to his mom. “There you go,”
Briskey said, “it’s your first little massage.” — MCT